Which of the others deserve support?

It may come as a surprise to some readers but the Greens are unlikely to form the next UK government after this coming General Election. Call me a pessimist but I don't think we'll even scrape through.

In fact I'm not even sure we'd form the government after next. Long is the tearful road to Parliamentary dominance.

Given that some Parliamentary seats will be filled by non-Greens I thought I'd speculate as to who I'd like to see keeping our seats warm. For example David Howarth, Cambridge's Lib Dem MP, has a very irritating habit that when you lobby him he not only agrees with what you have to say but generally has a list of achievements on the issue to show he's not just saying whatever you'd like to hear.

I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to vote Lib Dem but certainly my experience of Howarth on climate change, nuclear power, Iraq, civil liberties and international development have been wholly positive, unlike my experiences of the Labour candidate who seems to be the worst sort of authoritarian you could imagine.

Then there's MPs like Plaid's Adam Price who appears to have an excellent record pushing for left social democratic policies and in opposing the various wars New Labour have launched over the last decade and a bit.

Independent candidates like Jan Jananayagam in Harrow will be raising important issues and should poll well, although she'll find it difficult to win the seat, obviously. She did get 11% of the vote at the Euro elections in Harrow though so it would be wrong to think she wont be mounting a strong and highly charged campaign.

Let's not forget Salma Yaqoob in Birmingham. I'd certainly like to see Salma being given the support of the local Greens (although that's up to them obviously). She's been an inspiring figure in many ways and I've been a fan of hers for a number of years. I'm sure we disagree on a number of issues but then what's life without a little bit of friendly friction?

John McDonnell isn't the only Labour MP who has a more than decent record but he's among an ever decreasing circle of hard left Labour members who are slowly shuffling out of the Commons. I say let them shuffle a bit slower.

Which reminds me of people like Dave Nellist who were once left Labour MPs but found themselves on the wrong side of the Star Chamber of internal democracy. He's still a formidable councillor in Coventry and will probably having a crack at one of the seats. You can't say he wouldn't make the place much more interesting!

I feel a little out of touch with where other significant left challenges are likely to come from, for instance in Scotland are there any seats that the SSP are likely to get a creditable vote? Are there strong challenges in any constituencies from other left forces that I've missed here for instance?