An all-time record number of over 1400 candidates was fielded and an overall gain of 17 seats made, giving the party 110 councillors across England – an increase of almost 20 per cent. The number of councils with Green groups of two or more councillors rose from 17 to 22.
In Norwich, we successfully defended three of our nine city council seats with increased majorities, and Stephen Little’s gain from the LibDems in Town Close ward brought our total on the city council to ten. However, the story that caught the local headlines was in Thorpe Hamlet ward, where James Conway failed to take the seat from the LibDems by just one vote. Had that vote gone the other way, Norwich Greens would have become the second largest party on the council. Adrian Ramsay, leader of the Green group in Norwich, said, “Inevitably we were frustrated by the Thorpe Hamlet result, but at least we can use it to show our supporters that every offer of help really does make a difference.”
Elsewhere, there were breakthroughs on a number of councils. The most prominent gain was in Leicester where we had tied with Labour for one of the seats in Castle ward in 2003 only to then lose on a drawing of lots. This time Matt Follett and Phil Gordon won a clear victory in the ward, gaining two seats on the city council. Matt expects this year to be just the start. “We have a real opportunity to grow here,” he said. “In Leicester the LibDems don’t know what they stand for and have merely been the recipients of anti-Labour protest votes. We can win those votes – and we actually stand for something too!”
In Liverpool, John Coyne, who had previously been elected to the city council as a Liberal Democrat, held his seat in St Michael’s ward standing as a Green this time, giving us our first success in the city. In Mid Bedfordshire, Gareth Ellis took Flitton, Greenfield & Pulloxhill from the Tory incumbent, while in Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, the chair of the Green Party Executive, Richard Mallender, was successfully elected following his recent move from Brighton where he had also been a city councillor.
In Sussex, David Jonas and Vania Phitidis became the first two Green Party councillors to be elected to Wealden District Council, while in North Yorkshire Dilys Cluer joined last year’s by-election victor Jonathan Dixon to become the second Green on Scarborough Borough Council. There were also victories for the first time on Mid Suffolk and Waveney councils, as well as wins on Torridge District Council in Devon and Herefordshire Council.
Near misses around the country include in the long-time Green stronghold of Stroud, where three new seats were missed by less than 100 votes each. In the Forest of Dean, where the local party had only been running since Christmas, a huge amount of work brought them to within 35 votes in one ward and close in others. In Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, Leslie Rowe was 54 votes short of being elected in Brompton-on-Swale and Scorton ward, while in Keele ward in Newcastle under Lyme, Savitha Piercy was just 33 votes short.
But the real success of the Green Party this year may not be felt until the next General Election. In our two target Westminster constituencies of Norwich South and Brighton Pavilion, May 3rd’s vote-share put us in first place. Our percentage in wards in Brighton Pavilion was 30%, ahead of the Tories on 29% and Labour on 25%, while the Green vote share in Norwich South was 30%, three per cent ahead of the LibDems and nearly seven ahead of Labour.
