Greens on May 4th

Cllr Matthew Selwood, National Secretary,
Association of Green Councillors

It's fair to say that the Green Party took another step forward in local government on May 4th - at the time of writing (early afternoon, Friday May 5th) 20 gains appear to have been made by Greens across England, while no seats already held by Greens have been lost. With counts still ongoing in some councils, more gains are possible - but when added to the defection of Liverpool Lib Dem councillor John Coyne to the Greens on Tuesday May 2nd, the Green Party now has at least 92 principal authority councillors.

The most notable results included Lewisham, where sitting Cllr Darren Johnson (London Assembly Member) was joined by five new Green councillors - the Party sweeping the board in Brockley and Ladywell Wards and contributing to Labour's loss of Lewisham. In Norwich, the Greens held the one seat which they were defending and gained four more, to overtake Oxford as the largest Green Group in the country, with nine councillors. Oxford successfully defended four of its seat and gained one more, while Stroud also gained one. Sheffield Green Party gained 'group status' with two councillors, while Bristol Green Party had its first councillor elected in Southville Ward.

Elsewhere in London and environs, Watford Green Party gained another councillor, while Lambeth, Southwark, Islington, Camden and Hackney all returned Greens, in many instances for the first
time ever.

So, a solid result, with an increase of around 30% in Green councillors on the night. The nagging feeling is that it could have been better, however. Oxford Green Party failed to dent the vote of the right-wing Lib Dems in that city, while Kirklees Green Party couldn't make gains against the Conservatives. While London was a success story, in many councils Greens came within only a few votes of returning many more councillors - Greens missed out narrowly in Islington, Lambeth, Hackney and Enfield. Unfortunately, the ambitious target of 100 councillors in 2006 was not quite reached - it will be up to Brighton and other parties in 2007 to breach that barrier. The stage is well set for success not only in 2007, but in the 2008 London elections and 2009 Euro Elections as well - the Greens continue to move forward.



 

 

 

May 2006

> > home page > >