Nationally we got 1,028,283 Euro-votes - the highest since 1989. This time it's a lot more sustainable due to our presence in the London Assembly, the European Parliament, Scottish Parliament and 26 local authorities.

We returned our two MEPs under very difficult circumstances including the fact that the regions had one less seat than last year. Jean Lambert MEP, came 9th out of 10 in London almost doubling her 1999 vote while Caroline Lucas came 8th out of 10 in the SE, also increasing her vote significantly.

However we were squeezed in the other regions, most notably by UKIP's large vote. Here in the south west we increased our vote from 86,000 in 1999 to 103,000, but this was not enough for a seat.

In Brighton Greens secured 20 per cent of the vote throughout the three Brighton parliamentary constituencies in the European elections, forcing Labour into third place by 34 votes. All six Green councillors are based in wards in the Brighton Pavilion constituency where the Green candidate, Keith Taylor, secured 9.3 per cent of the vote in the last general election. That vote is now estimated to be closer to 30 per cent in that constituency. Labour secured 48 per cent in the last election but Greens have grown much since then and Labour is far less popular. The Guardian reports that senior Labour Party officials fear Greens will send their first MP to parliament from Brighton next year.

In the London mayoral election, 14% of the voters chose the Greens as their first or, in most cases, their second preference. Both Darren and Jenny kept there seats on the London Assembly, but disappointingly we were squeezed by UKIP and Respect (a front for the hardline revolutionary Socialist Workers Party).

Respect took enough votes from us so that we lost Noel Lynch's seat, but they failed badly and even Respect's George Galloway didn't get a seat in the EU elections.

Perhaps the most disturbing result is that the BNP got more votes than Greens in 5 out of the 12 regions (not in the South-West). However the peculiar circumstances of the campaign with Respect and UKIP, could have squeezed us even more. We have a good profile now.

Celebrities join Greens

The Times said we ran a ‘spirited campaign’. The Guardian said we had "a good election", showed "some sticking power" and showed off the "leftist Respect challenge to its position as the left's best of the rest."

We've also seen celebrities join us like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tim Roth, Jeremy Irons, Twiggy, and Joanna Lumley.

Why the UKIP vote?

The UKIP vote shows that people have real concerns about the EU that are not being heard, but it also shows money and a television personality can capture votes. It seems unlikely that people realised what UKIP really stood for, otherwise they wouldn't go anywhere near them.

UKIP want Britain to leave the EU, but they are in favour of economic globalisation and a stronger WTO. The US-dominated WTO believes free trade is more important than environmental regulation and have forced us to accept dairy products with growth hormones and are now trying to force GM on us. UKIP say they are concerned about independence from Brussels, but they would willingly cede British sovereignty to the US and WTO. They also have similar policies to the BNP on asylum.

No UKIP members have signed a pledge to increase accountability of MEPs and end the EU gravy train. Infact more Greens signed the pledge than members of all the other UK parties put together (i). With so few signing it is unsurprising that people are disillusioned with Europe.

The Greens message of the urgent need to reform the EU went largely unheard. However by the next European elections there will be a very different climate and hopefully people will see that Kilroy-Silk's plan "to wreck the EU" is not the way forward.

Greens in the rest of Europe

The new Green/EFA Group will consist of a total of 41 MEPs: 34 Greens and seven from EFA, down from 37 and ten respectively in the outgoing parliament.

Commenting on the situation Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-speaker of the European Green campaign said: "Taking into account the difficult circumstances we encountered, the Greens are satisfied with their result. In the 'old' Member States, in which the number of seats available was significantly reduced, we have kept our relative strength with 34 Green MEPs. Losses in some countries are compensated by excellent results in other countries such as Germany. We are also very happy that for the first time in history we can welcome to our Group two Green MEPs from Spain."

Nobody has ever said it is easy being Green – we have seen good times, bad times and indifferent times. However there is a strong belief now that we have a core green vote which is secure and that is something we should all be proud of. Up until a few years ago we had mostly a floating vote – this election shows that whatever else we face in terms of electoral competition, not one of our opponents can ignore the core.