Ben Crystall, Leader of East Herts District Council, a Hertfordshire County Councillor and Bengeo North Town Councillor, reacted to the 2024 General Election results on Friday July 5th.
“Our country has voted for a change and sent the Conservatives packing after they brought Britain to its knees.
I’m over the moon that the Green Party did so well nationally – we now have 4 Green MPs, which is a huge jump for the Green Party, up from just 1 MP in 2019, and our vote share nationally has increased significantly. This shows that our vision of a fairer, greener future resonated with many across the country. Our new Green MPs will push the new Labour government to be bolder, braver, and more ambitious, urging them to act immediately on the environment, to tighten regulation of housing and increase funding to save our NHS and public services.
Locally, the Green Party made huge progress too – I’m obviously disappointed not to have a local Green MP but I’m proud that we received a significant proportion of the vote across our county. We stood more candidates than ever before – giving people across the region the chance to vote Green in ever greater numbers and I’d like to thank our candidates and our amazing campaign teams for their hard work and dedication.
This result marks a historic turning point for us as a community in Hertfordshire – many of the constituencies here have been Conservative strongholds for decades and our county’s political landscape has shifted, as voters have spoken loudly and clearly in favour of change.
Congratulations to all our new MPs – I look forward to working with them, and continuing to fight for real hope and real change in the 2025 County Council elections and in the years to come.”