A new YouGov European election poll, the first with Euro region breakdowns, shows the Greens ahead of the Liberal Democrats in the North West in the race for the last out of 8 proportional representation seats. It follows on from two previous polls showing the Greens either ahead or level with the Liberal Democrats in the larger "North" section of the poll.
The Liberal Democrats have seen massive drops in the number of candidates they are fielding around the North West, dropping to just 18 out of 30 seats contested in Liverpool, a city where they ran the council at the time of the last European elections.
The Greens are picking up support after Lib Dem u-turns on policies likes student tuition fees, fracking, Trident renewal and nuclear power, all of which the Liberal Democrats now support.
Peter Cranie the Green candidate, ahead of his appearance on Sunday's BBC North West Politics Show said:
“We’ve closed the poll gap with the Lib Dems because people want to vote for a party with principles. Now we are in the election period, we're getting more media coverage and the chance to get our message across. Our distinctive message contrasts with the view that 81% of Liberal Democrats are happy in coalition with the Conservatives [1]. Their former supporters are not, and a lot of them are switching their support to us instead.”
In the 'North' regional breakdowns of the two previous, larger polls, the Greens are either level with the Liberal Democrats (7% each) or ahead of the Liberal Democrats (with the Greens on 9% and the Lib Dems on 6%).
After missing out on a seat by just 0.3% in 2009, the North West region is the number one target for the Green Party who will be launching an advertising blitz in regional newspapers across the region early next week.
Peter Cranie added: “The Greens are the positive vote for hope instead of fear in this election. We are moving ahead of the Liberal Democrats in the North. We can and will beat them to win the final seat in the region, but we need people who're voting by post in the next week to make a positive choice in this election for a better Britain and a better Europe."
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
1. 81% of Lib Dems happy in coalition with the Conservatives reported in Lib Dem Voice
2. The two largest YouGov polls can be accessed via the links below and a copy of the tables from the not yet published poll are available on request. Depending on how Labour, UKIP and Conservatives poll, between 7.5% and 9.5% will be needed for the 4th placed party to win the final seat in the North West.
Polls:
1st May YouGov / Green Party [Tables available] - Regional voting figures are based on unrepresentative samples and so the findings will not be accurate of all adults living in these areas. As such the data should be used anecdotally and the margin of error ranges from between 8% and 12% in these regions.
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