Greens gain in local elections

05 May 2007

The Green Party makes gains in both Eastern Region and across England at the local elections. Voters decide to go Green by voting Green.

In Norwich, the Greens gained one seat to now have a group of ten. They held all their seats being defended and just missed out by one vote from an eleventh seat. Had the result gone one vote the other way, the Greens would now be the second largest party on Norwich City Council. Another milestone on the road to gaining a first Green MP in Eastern Region was the aggregate Green vote across the wards within Norwich South constituency rising to being larger than any other party.

In Mid-Suffolk, the Greens held one seat with an increased majority and made a gain. Greens were elected for the first time in two authorities, taking a seat on Mid-Bedfordshire and Waveney councils.

In Watford, the Greens defended a seat with a large majority and in Braintree, the Greens held their two seats for a third term with increased majorities, both candidates beating their Labour rivals by over 600 votes. In Witham, the Green Group on the town council increased to three seats.

In other areas where the Greens are making progress, including Colchester and Cambridge, although seats were not won this time, the Green vote increased, narrowing the gap from winning next time. The Greens were also ahead of Labour in a number of wards across Colchester.

Some of the successful defences in Eastern region saw the Green vote hitting well over 70% of all votes cast in the respective wards.

Across England the Green Party made a number of significant gains, with Brighton Green group and Lancaster Green group doubling to 12 seats each, now the equal largest Green groups in the UK. Many other gains were made and in total, the Greens now have over 100 principal authority seats for the first time in their history.

Notes: The Green Party fielded a record number of candidates at the local elections. A total of 1,421 principal authority Green candidates stood (which included 8 by-elections and 2 Mayoral contests). This comfortably beats the previous best showing in 1990 by more than 100 candidates. The Greens fielded significantly more candidates than any of the other smaller parties, including UKIP. In addition to the 1,421 total, many Green Party members also stood as parish candidates.

In Eastern region, there were 281 Green candidates (including by-elections), the highest of any region in England. In over 75% of council areas (37 out of 49 councils), there were Green candidates. Greens stood in every ward in Cambridge, Colchester, Norwich, Watford and Waveney.