News / Politics
Great day for Greens with Bristol Central seat now in sights
The Green Party in Bristol have won the largest ever number of seats held by the Greens on a UK council with 34 of their councillors now at City Hall.
Labour were beaten into second place with 21 seats, with former cabinet member Marley Bennett and deputy leader Amal Ali both losing.
The Lib Dems now have eight councillors including former MP Stephen Williams and the Tories hold seven seats in a major shakeup of Bristol City Council.
is needed now More than ever
The Greens now hold all 14 of the council seats in the new Bristol Central constituency, giving the party renewed hope that their co-leader Carla Denyer might take the seat off Thangam Debbonaire in the next general election.
The current Bristol West MP called the local elections “disappointing” but said that a silver lining was preventing the Greens from winning a majority at City Hall, which needed 36 seats.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer (front left) celebrates with some of the victorious Green candidates – photo: Martin Booth
Denyer said that “the people of Bristol have turned to the Green Party to deliver the change that this city needs”.
“The people of this city know that we don’t have to accept politics as usual. Something better is possible, if we vote for it.
“As MP candidate for Bristol Central at the coming general election, I’m looking forward to giving Bristolians another opportunity to demonstrate their values by voting for real change and hope at the national level.”
Greens celebrate at the count in Oasis Academy in Brislington – photo: Martin Booth
Tony Dyer, the re-elected Green councillor for Southville, is likely to become council leader when the new members are sworn into office at City Hall on Tuesday.
“It’s been a very good night for the Green Party, both here in Bristol and nationally,” Dyer told Bristol24/7.
“But I guess the cliché is that we worked really hard and now we’re got to work even harder. It’s not the Green Party that has to work hard either but all of the councillors that are going to be sitting on those committees because there is so much that we need to do for this city.”
Dyer added: “Councillors from other parties have as much interest in improving Bristol as we have. It’s going to be a Green-led administration so we’re going to prioritise our manifesto but there are areas where we overlap with the manifestos from the other parties.
“No single party has a monopoly on good ideas. If the other parties have good ideas that they want to talk to us about how they implement those, then we’ll talk.”
Labour won a clean sweep of seats in Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston with Don Alexander, Zoe Peat and Tom Blenkinsop – photo: Mia Vines Booth
The Lib Dems pulled off a stunning victory in Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze, with Stephen Williams, Caroline Gooch and Nicholas Coombes beating the three Tory incumbents – photo: Mia Vines Booth
Debbonaire blamed split-voting for Labour’s results in the local elections, saying that Labour supporters might have voted Green at the local elections but Labour in the police & crime commissioner election that took place on the same day and saw Labour’s Clare Moody elected.
She said: “There’s been some strong results for Labour in Bristol including the election of our new police & crime commissioner.
“Despite their expectations that they would win a majority, we also managed to stop the Greens short.
“Whilst I’m disappointed to lose some outstanding Labour councillors, I’m heartened by the energy of our hardworking candidates and legendary Bristol Labour members.
“I’ve spoken to hundreds of voters in the last few weeks. While some have split their votes this time, they know only by returning the Labour MPs we’ve got and adding more can we secure a Labour majority and stop the Tories getting five more years in power.
“I’ll work hard for every vote as I always have done since I won Bristol West from a minister in the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government which inflicted misery on the people of our city and decimated the public services we rely on.
“Rishi Sunak must urgently call a general election so we can elect a Labour government that will deliver a world-leading climate action plan, tackle the cost of living crisis and provide free breakfast clubs and mental health support to children in Bristol and beyond.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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