The 1979 General Election was contested on 3rd May. The outgoing government was Labour led by Jim Callaghan. Initially they had a small majority but this was eroded over time and since 1977 it had operated as a minority government with support from Welsh & Scottish nationalists and Ulster Unionists. Following the referendum on a Scottish Assembly in 1978 which a majority of those voting supported, but had failed the threshold of 40% of the total electorate, the SNP refused to support Labour in a no-confidence vote.

The Conservatives under their new leader, Margaret Thatcher, went on to win a clear majority in the election.

This was the first General Election that the new Ecology Party had faced since its formation from PEOPLE and Movement for Survival in 1976. There was a threshold of 50 candidates to be entitled to a Party Political Broadcast (PPB) - in 1979 there were only three TV channels in the UK and the election PPBs were broadcast simultaneously on all channels. At lot of effort went into securing the necessary 50 candidates in time, in the event 53 Ecology Party candidates stood across the UK.

Two versions were produced - one for radio and one for TV. We have not yet managed to recover the video of the TV version but we have audio of both below.

1979 PEB radio version:

Sally Willington remembering making the 1979 broadcast in 1983 (10 year look back)…

“We were Green in every sense and had no idea how to make our election film. I remembered a correspondence with an lTV writer in Portsmouth and asked him to recommend a source of help and information. He said go and see Jenny and Co in Soho. Jonathon Porritt and I went. After about half an hour, the two Jenny men came to the conclusion that ours was a revolutionary philosophy and, since we had no money they must help us. This they did and that is why we had such a good broadcast that it brought in 5000 members and is remembered to this day.”

1979 PEB TV version:

The South West provided 18 candidates, followed by London with 10 and Yorkshire & Humberside with 9 candidates. Eight out of the 53 were women - 15%. In the SW the average age of candidates was 36 ranging from 22 to 55 (we don't yet have age figures for the remaining candidates).

A full manifesto was published with the title "The Real Alternative". It was a 20 page booklet with 17 pages of substantial text. It started with an overview and then talked about the Crisis in our Economy and the Crisis in our Society before moving on to outline policy proposals - in each area defining the problem and then outlining Eco policies to address the problem.

Also available at this time was the full Manifesto for a Sustainable Society, revised and updated the previous year. This in smaller booklet form runs to 127 pages with full detailed policy proposals.

Individual candidates produced their own election addresses usually using a fairly standard template. The gallery below shows a sample (all from the SW so far - please contact us if you can fill in the gaps)

An interesting situation existed in Oxford where the Oxford Ecology Movement had been set up independently of the Ecology Party, and it was OEM that was organised to put up a candidate.

They had produced their own manifesto "A Sane Future" and fought a good campaign using purely local resources. At the time they had around 50 members in the constituency - probably more than most Ecology Party branches elsewhere. In the event the candidate, Anthony Cheke, polled 887 votes, 1.46% - the average for EP candidates elsewhere.

The seat was a Labour-Tory marginal, Labour having taken it in 1974, and the Tories winning it back in 79 by 1,497 votes on a 4.4% swing largely at the expense of the Liberal.

Sample ECO election leaflets

There are no images in the gallery.

Candidate List and results

A full list of candidates (including other parties) in constituencies where ECO stood can be found in the May-June 1979 EcoNews

South West Region Back row:  Geoff Garbett - Tony Whittaker - Chris Retallack - Liz Hopkins - Jeremy Faul - Richard Carder -                   Bert Pettit - Maurice Weekes - Howard Hoptrough - Jim Keeling Front row: Julia Leydon - Sally Rodwell - Hilary Bacon - David Taylor - Gundula Dorey - John Ingham
Cornwall
St.Ives:  Howard Hoptrough (55)  427 votes, 1.0%, last behind MK	Cornwall North: Jeremy Faull (49)  442 votes, 0.9%.
Bodmin: Chris Retallack (32)  465 votes, 0.9%. Beaten by MK	Teddy Goldsmith was due to stand in Falmouth/Camborne but pulled out late
Devon
Exeter:  Peter Frings (22)  1053 votes, 1.88%.	Devon North: Tony Whittaker (46)  729 votes, 1.2%
Honiton:  Hilary Bacon (43)  1423 votes, 2.35%	Torbay:  David Abrahams (31)  1161 votes, 1.8%
Somerset
Taunton:  Geoffrey Garbett (26)  1403 votes 2.6%	Somerset North:  Richard Carder (36)  1254 votes, 1.6%
Bath: Don Grimes  (35)  1082 votes, 2.2%
Wiltshire
Chippenham:  Bert Pettit  (52)  521 votes, 0.9%	Devizes:  Ray Burcham (28)  713 votes, 1.1%
Westbury : Sally Rodwell (30)  554 votes, 0.9% behind Wessex Regionalist
Dorset
Bournemouth East:  Jacky Dempsey (25) 523 votes, 1.3%	Lymington & Christchurch: Jim Keeling (46)  975 votes, 2.2%
Bristol
Bristol West: John Ingham (26)  1154 votes, 2.7%	Bristol North East : Gundula Dorey (36)  469 votes, 1.3%
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire South:  David Kerridge (35)  695 votes, 1.0%
Yorkshire & Humberside (Leeds)
Barkston Ash: David Corry 1829 votes, 2.5%	Batley & Morley: Clive Lord 460 votes, 1.0%
Keithley: Joyce Wade 208 votes, 0.48%	Leeds East: Anne Hill 206 votes, 0.4%
Leeds North-East: Sara Parkin 813 votes, 2.0%	Leeds North-West: Keith Rushworth 847 votes, 1.7%
Pudsey: Peter Lewenz 340 votes, 0.6%	Ripon: Alistair Laurence 781 votes, 1.85%
Shipley: David Pedley 486 votes, 1.0%
North West Region
Altringham & Sale: Cicely Marsh 796 votes, 1.4%	Crosby: PeterHussey 1489 votes, 2.4%
London
Beckenham: Biff Vernon 762 votes, 1.75%	Brentford & Iselworth: Irene Coates 454 votes, 1.75%
Chingford: Steve Lambert 649 votes, 1.5%	Dulwich: David Smart 468 votes, 1.1%
Hendon South: Geoffrey Syer 563 votes, 1.5%	Islington Central: Adrian Williams 310 votes, 1.2%
Kensington: Nicholas Albery 698 votes, 2.06%	St.Marylebone: Jonathon Porritt 691 votes, 2.8%
Hitchin: Brian Goodale 911 votes, 1.45%	Reading South: Peter Dunn 700 votes, 1.2%
West and East Midlands Regions
Birmingham Edgbaston: Jonathan Tyler 852 votes, 1.8%	Loughborough: David Whitebread 595 votes, 0.98%
Warwick & Leamington: Peter Sizer 905 votes, 1.36%	Worcester: John Davenport 707 votes, 1.2%
Worcestershire South: Guy Woodford 1722 votes, 2.8%
South East Region
Brighton Pavilion: John Beale 638 votes, 1.5%	Chichester: Nick Bagnall 656 votes, 1.2%
Gillingham: Colin Fry 501 votes, 1.0%	Rye: Anne Rix 1267 votes, 2.2%
East Anglia Region
Lowestoft: Tim Pye 435 votes, 0.65%	Norwich North: George Hannah 334 votes, 0.94%
Wales
Bedwelty: Peter Rout 556 votes, 1.4%	Pembroke: Brian Kingzett 694 votes, 1.1%
Scotland
Edinburgh South: Stewart Biggar 552 votes, 1.3%

 

Overall ECO gained 39,981 votes and an average of 1.5% of the vote in the constituencies where they stood. The best result in votes was 1829 for David Corry in Barkston Ash, followed by Guy Woodford with 1722 in Worcestershire South and 1423 for Hilary Bacon in Honiton.

In terms of vote share Guy Woodford with 2.8% and Jonathon Porritt also with 2.8% (but only 691 votes) in St.Marylebone where top followed by John Ingham in Bristol West with 2.7%.

Of course at these levels one should not read too much into the relative results in different places. EcoNews proudly proclaimed that Ecology Party was now Britains fourth party having roundly beaten the National Front in 17 of the 24 constituencies where both stood. Over a million leaflets were distributed and the TV and radio party political broadcasts generated much interest with over 4000 enquires and a surge in membership resulting.

Press and news coverage was good with well attended press conferences and the London candidates demonstration against the use of lead in petrol attracting much coverage.

A month later the country went to the polls again in the first direct election to the European Assembly (Parliament)