Pic: Alex Phillips and Caroline Lucas talk to voters in the Goldsmid by-election. Photo credit: www.jjwaller.com
Hove Green city councillor, Alex Phillips, addressed a conference in Paris at the weekend on how to win elections.
Alex, who was a key organiser in the successful 2010 Parliamentary election of Green Party leader, Caroline Lucas, was the first ever Green councillor to be elected in Hove.
Her 2009 by-election win was the Greens’ first gain of a Conservative seat in Brighton and Hove.
Addressing the European Green Party Congress Alex said, “Besides keeping a close ear to the ground on what voters are telling you there are three critical factors necessary to win an election: a vision that people can identify with, a candidate who can credibly articulate that vision and great organisation.
“And underpinning all of those, in the move from challenger to winner, is momentum.
“In the Parliamentary constituency of Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas was able to articulate a vision that people believed in, the organisation left nothing to chance and growing momentum led to Caroline’s election, followed by the election of the first ever Green-led Council in the UK.
“That momentum continues and the Green Party in Brighton and Hove hopes to build on this and secure enough Council seats in 2015 to have an overall majority.
“What is more, the Greens believe at least one of the two Conservative parliamentary seats in the City to be vulnerable, regardless of forthcoming boundary changes.
“Our momentum is strong in Brighton and Hove.
“We have the vision, we have several members who would make great candidates and we have the organisation to see us to victory in 2015.”
Notes
For further information please contact Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.
The European Green Party Congress took place November 11-13, 2011, at 28 rue Saint Dominique, Paris. Alex Phillips travelled to the Congress by rail.
Alex Phillips is Green Councillor on Brighton & Hove City Council.
She first won her seat in Goldsmid ward, Hove, in a 2009 by-election and went on to win again in the 2011 city-wide council election, helping to form the UK’s first ever Green-led Council.