Sian Berry
Image credit: Rosie Rawle

The Green Party of England and Wales has had its best ever local election results, gaining 194 seats across England. The party also won seats on over 50 new councils across the country.

But the good news doesn’t stop there. The party has now confirmed that over 500 people have joined the party today.

All this shows that the Greens are experiencing a second ‘Green surge’. The first Green surge in 2014/15 saw Green membership rise from 18,000 to over 60,000 in seven months. The party went on to receive over 1 million votes in the 2015 General Election.

With European elections just around the corner, the Greens will be hoping to translate these membership and vote surges into more seats in the European Parliament.

Historic local elections

As all the votes were counted in the local elections this year, the Greens had more than doubled its number of councillors across England. Key Green victories included:

  • Gaining eight seats in Brighton & Hove, leaving the Greens with one less councillor than Labour.
  • Winning seats in South Oxfordshire for the first time ever, picking up five seats on the council.
  • Gaining seven seats in Mendip.
  • Doubling the number of Green councillors in Mid Suffolk.
  • Gaining three new councillors in Solihull, taking the Green tally to fourteen.

The Greens were one of only two major parties making gains in the English elections, along with the Liberal Democrats.

Green Party co-leaders Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry said that these results cemented the Greens as the fourth largest party of local government in England.