Greens now largest party on Brighton Council

The Green Party is now the largest party in Brighton, with 23 seats. It's still five seats short of a majority, but the city that chose Caroline Lucas as the UK's first green MP last year has cemented its support for her party at local level. FULL RESULT

This is the first time a local council in the UK has elected the Greens as the largest party. Brighton and Hove Green convenor Bill Randall said,

The city has listened to the Greens and we have listened to the city.

Greens would now sit down and plan how to take the city forward in these difficult times This is the first time the Greens have been the largest party on any council in the UK and people seem to be  genuinely enthused by the option of a Green-led council.

It's a great result for the city and a huge vote of confidence in the Greens. People went Green across Brighton & Hove. We held all our seats and gained 10 more. We now have 23 Green councillors, making us the largest Green group of councillors in the country.

The next step is for us to talk to other parties about how we will work with them and implement our manifesto pledges at a very challenging time for local government budgets.

We can't say how this will work until we have entered into discussions.