Election Day

Turnout: 33.30% (down 3.99%)

Vote breakdown:

Con 479,037 (27.36%, +0.58%)
Lab 372,590 (21.28%, -3.47%)
LD 240,156 (13.72%, -1.60%)
Green 190,589 (10.88%, +2.45%)
UKIP 188,440 (10.76%, -1.58%)
BNP 86,420 (4.94%, +0.90%)
Christian Party 51,336 (2.93%)
Ind Jan 50,014 (2.86%)
EDP 24,477 (1.40%, +0.55%)
NO2EU 17,758 (1.01%)
Soc Lab 15,306 (0.87%)
Libertas 8,444 (0.48%)
Jury Team 7,284 (0.42%)
Ind Cheung 4,918 (0.28%)
SPGB 4,050 (0.23%)
Yes 2 Europe 3,384 (0.19%)
Ind Rahman 3,248 (0.19%)
Ind A 1,972 (0.11%)
ND 1,603 (0.09%)

Area: Greater London
Electorate: 5.1 million

The figures are via the Daily Telegraph.

The votes for the Socialist Party are of course many times the actual membership of the party, so an obviously positive result would be if those who voted actually thought of joining. Failing that, and it is unlikely the SPGB will suddenly have 4000 members come Friday, one can but hope that the work the party has been doing in the London area will have made sure people recognise who we are and what we stand for and that they are more sympathetic towards the socialist idea.

Flicking through the papers and some of the blogs, a lot is being made of New Labour's meltdown - and what this means for the forthcoming General Election and Gordon Brown's leadership in the coming weeks - and the two seats for the pond life in the BNP. For sure, those are important results; however, I always tend to look at the biggest "party/movement" : the Non-Voter. The turnout was absolutely atrocious.

The vote is so important. How on Earth is anyone to gauge what the millions who did not vote are thinking? In a positive spin, perhaps it is a vote against the capitalist parties because nobody believes they are any good, can do anything and, as the expenses row rumbles on, these parties are as corrupt as hell.