Results breakdown of the 2005 United Kingdom general election Party came third in Brighton Pavilion (with Keith Taylor as candidate) behind Labour and the Conservatives, taking 21.9% of the votes cast. Despite this unprecedented high share of the vote Taylor was not selected to contest the seat in the 2010 general election, losing his prospective position to Caroline Lucas. The English Democrats gained their highest percentage of the vote, when former "Sun" newspaper columnist, Gary Bushell stood in Greenwich and Woolwich and gained 3.4% of votes cast. The Independent Working Class Association stood for the first time in a general election, having previously only stood in local council elections.
Caroline Lucas 1997. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and 2009, also serving as the Party's Female Principal Speaker from 2003 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2008. Lucas was elected the first Leader of the Green Party in 2008 and was elected to represent the constituency of Brighton Pavilion in the 2010 general election. She stood down as party leader in 2012 to devote more time to her parliamentary duties and focus on an ultimately successful campaign to be re-elected as an MP. She returned to