PERHAPS Ann de Vecchi can be forgiven for taking such a parochial view of the recent elections extolling Lib Dem success and crowing over some supposed collapse in the Green vote.
We took the realistic view that most people would be pretty happy to see Ruth O'Keeffe returned as their county councillor, whereas the Lib Dems threw themselves at the division and suffered a catastrophic decline in their support.
Instead we Lewe
s Greens put all our effort into getting increased support at the European level and were handsomely rewarded.
Indeed the Lewes District counting area saw the Green Party with the fourth highest percentage of the total vote out of all counting areas in the entire South East.
Considering that in nearby Brighton and Hove and in Oxford Greens actually topped the poll, that puts us in pretty good company. In addition Lewes was one of the areas where the total Green vote exceeded 5,000.
Our Green MEP Caroline Lucas recently won the award again for 'ethical politician of the year' and was also judged the most accountable MEP in the whole European Parliament by a survey just before the election.
People recognise a fine person and a fine politician when they see one and they rewarded the Green Party nationwide with a 44 per cent increase in its vote.
We have a lot to celebrate and are proud of our achievements.
Susan Murray, Lewes
parliamentary candidate
for the Green Party