The Green
Party has recorded its best ever election results in London where Sian Berry,
the Green Party’s London Mayoral candidate, came third and the Party retained
its two London Assembly seats.
On the Assembly,
councillors Sian Berry and Caroline Russell replace Baroness Jenny Jones and
Darren Johnson, who have both stepped down after 16 years of outstanding
service.
The
Scottish Greens enjoyed a superb night, growing their representation from two
MSPs to six. In winning election, 21-year-old rising star Ross Greer became the
youngest-ever MSP .
Reacting
to the outstanding results in the capital, Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader,
said:
The
Greens standout results in London demonstrate how a positive campaign with good
ideas for London can resonate widely with voters. We thank all our candidates,
activists and supporters for delivering our biggest and best campaign in London
to date.
Sian
Berry said:
Today is
a victory for the politics of bringing Londoners together not dividing them. I’m
proud that Londoners have voted for good, positive ideas in such numbers. In
every vote Greens have cemented our position as the number three party in
London, coming third in the vote for mayor, on the Londonwide list and in a
majority of constituencies. The immediate priority for Greens on the London
Assembly now will be to push the new mayor to make the right decisions on
road-building and estate demolitions and to clean up our city’s filthy air.
In the
local elections, the Green Party saw strong results in the West Midlands and
the South West. In Stroud, where Natalie visited on the eve of the poll, the
Party retained five councillors and added three gains. The party retained all
its councillors in Solihull and made two gains. The party now have 27 Green
Party councillors on 11 councils in its growing West Midlands powerbase
(including making a breakthrough in Cannock Chase and winning a hard-fought
seat in Worcester that led to the Tories losing control of the council). The
party also won a first-ever seat on Weymouth and Portland council.
Reacting
to the local election results, Natalie said:
My
thanks to everyone who voted Green yesterday, particularly those who voted
Green for the first time, of whom I know there were many.
I also
want to thank all of the candidates, members and supporters who helped us to
stand in the largest-ever number of council seats, 54% in these elections
compared to 25% in 2012.
That
reflects the growth and development of the Green Party since then, with
membership five times larger, and we’re looking forward to the county elections
next year to further increase our representation.
The new
Green councillors will join a team who are dedicated to standing up for the
most disadvantaged, to taking real steps to alleviate the ever-worsening
housing crisis, and to helping communities live within the environmental limits
of our one fragile planet.
The
breakthroughs we have made mean more councils will now have Green voices,
voices that scrutinise, challenge, and ask tough questions. Sadly, we have lost
some long-term, dedicated, valued councillors in Norwich, Oxford and other
places. I thank them for their years of service to their communities and the
Green Party and am sure that the parties there will be bouncing back in coming
years, with strong representation still on both councils.
The final
Green tally of English council seats will not be known until Sunday when the
Bristol City council count is completed. Bristol is the Greens’ stronghold in
the South-West and the party is poised to increase it representation from 14
councillors.
The
Scottish Greens increased the presence in Parliament threefold and achieved
almost a 14% increase on their best-ever total in the regional vote across
Scotland.
Turning
her attention to Scotland, Natalie said:
This was
a great night for the Scottish Green Party and they are taking a great team
into Holyrood. As well as the much respected Alison Johnstone and Patrick
Harvie, Ross Greer will be the youngest MSP and land reform campaigner Andy
Wightman will be a formidable force.
