Westminster's Second Green MP

As people will know from this and other posts, I'm delighted that Caroline Lucas has won Brighton Pavilion for the Greens. Well done.

     

I'm sure this will be reported as a first, but it's actually a second because Cynog Dafis won Ceredigion in 1992 on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green ticket. Cynog will be pleased to see England get its first Green MP, as he said here.

It's too early to say whether the numbers of seats won in Westminster will add up in such a way as to make a referendum on STV likely, but if it does we can look forward to two things: many more Green MPs and hopefully a much closer working relationship between Plaid Cymru and the Greens in Wales with supporters of each giving their subsequent preferences to the other party.

We already work together in the European Parliament as part of the Green-EFA Alliance, and we should be natural allies in Westminster too. There'll be space on our bench in the Commons for you, Caroline. More space than I expected there'd be.