Elections

The general election is on 4 July 2024.

St Albans District includes two constituencies - St Albans in the south, and part of Harpenden & Berkhamsted in the north. Our candidates to be MP in these seats are Simon Grover and Paul de Hoest.

Support their campaign by donating to the Crowdfunder.

Simon Grover - St Albans

Simon has been a district councillor in St Albans since 2011, having been re-elected 5 times in a row. He's the leader of the 4-strong Green & Independent group on the Council, which was just a few votes short of becoming a group of 6 at the recent local elections.

Back in 2011, St Albans Council had nothing to say about sustainability. Simon has helped change this, and climate change is now stated as one of its top priorities. On the Council, the Greens' many achievements include:

• hundreds of solar panels on leisure centres

• plans for city-wide 20mph zones

• switching the Council to renewable energy

• a ‘right to grow’ policy

• the Wilder St Albans project

Simon stood in the 2019 General Election, and got over 1,000 votes.

Paul de Hoest - Harpenden & Berkhamsted

Paul joined the Green Party in 2009 because he wanted to secure a fairer and more sustainable world for his children to grow up in and he believes that change can ultimately only come about via the political process.

He is a former Chair of the campaigning organisation, Global Justice Now, which campaigns for policy changes towards a more equal world. He was a councillor in Berkhamsted where he established several local initiatives to help the town lessen its energy carbon footprint. After a career as a Merchant Navy Officer Paul moved into finance, working for several commercial banking groups including 15 years at the Bank of England as an economist and risk management specialist.

Paul has lived in Berkhamsted for 27 years, where he and his wife brought up their three children. In his spare time Paul enjoys making art, reading, gardening, lots of walking and, most importantly, being a grandparent.

Could voting Green let the Tories in?

No. ElectoralCalculus.co.uk (described as "probably the leading vote/seat predictor on the internet") gives the Lib Dems a 92% chance of success in St Albans, even if the Green vote doubles. They predict a huge drop in the Conservative vote, with Daisy Cooper's majority rising from 11% last time to 22% this time. There is plenty of room for Green votes!

Our Previous Results

We target our campaigns on specific areas, to make it more likely that we'll get councillors elected rather than achieving no more than a general increase in our vote share. In our current target areas - St Peter's ward and Clarence ward in St Albans, we win. We have 3 councillors in those wards: Simon, Matt and Juliet.

But even if you don't live in our target wards, voting for a Green candidate gives you a chance to send a message that you like our policies, campaigns and ideas. Every Green vote increases our media coverage and campaigning power.

Here are some highlights of our results in St Albans District:

In 2011 we won our first council seat in the district, when Simon Grover became a councillor for St Peters ward. Tom Hardy also became a parish councillor in Redbourn.
In 2012 Simon retained his seat with a greatly increased majority, to serve until 2016.
In 2015 In the General Election we tripled our vote compared to the previous election.
In 2019 we again increased our General Election vote.
In May 2023 Matt Fisher was elected to Clarence ward with a 51% majority. On the same day, Simon Grover was re-elected for the fourth time in a row. Greens did exceptionally well across Hertfordshire and the region. Greens are now the largest party in East Hertfordshire.
In June 2023 Juliet Voisey was elected as our second St Peter's ward councillor.
In May 2024 Juliet was re-elected and we came within a few votes of getting two more councillors elected.
Across the UK the Green Party has over 800 Principal Authority Councillors in England, plus Assembly Members in Scotland, Northern Ireland and London, one MP and two Members of the House of Lords.