The European election results have now been fully announced. We held both our European seats; nationally, we increased our vote by 44% - an awesome gain.
In Brighton & Hove, the Greens came first across the whole city with 31.3%, beating the Tories by 6,000 votes and taking more than twice as many as Labour.
We also topped the poll in Oxford and Norwich, putting us well on track for electoral success in the General Election in our target constituencies.
And I am really pleased about all of this, honestly I am.
But I can't help feeling very disappointed that we missed out so narrowly on a second seat in the South East, and also that (despite a huge amount of hard work) we fell short in other parts of the UK by a very small margin.
So after all that effort, and despite a massively increased voteshare, we still have only 2 Green MEPs - fewer per votes cast than any other party.*
Yes, the proportional representation system used in the Euro ballot is fairer than the wretched first past the post system we endure for Westminster, but the d'Hondt method still favours larger parties; which is perhaps why it was chosen in the first place.
Ben Duncan, Jim Jay, and plenty of other people have blogged very eloquently about our results in recent hours, so I'll end my contribution here...
...with a final thought that perhaps the main reason why I don't feel like singing from the rooftops today is because I am utterly, utterly ashamed to be Northern right now.
*Votes cast per MEP elected in England and Wales in the 2009 European Elections:
Plaid Cymru 126,702
Con 167,191
UKIP 187,726
Lib Dem 195,358
Lab 195,628
BNP 458,212
Green 611,652
