Amelia Womack, Green Party deputy leader

The Green Party of England and Wales’ deputy leadership race has kicked off in earnest. Incumbent deputy Amelia Womack has today announced that she is seeking a fourth term in her role.

Womack has been in post since 2014, and her time in office has seen the party achieve unprecedented success in general, European and local elections. In that time, the party achieved its best ever results in three successive General Elections, increased its number of MEPs from 3 to 7 and more than doubled its representation in local government.

Now, Womack wants to take the party to the next level of electoral success. She is centering her campaign around mobilising the party’s grassroots activists to get more Greens elected in local elections. As part of that, she says she wants to see Green councillors “transform local communities” and lead a “Green recovery” from coronavirus.

Speaking To Bright Green, Womack said:

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be standing for a fourth term as deputy leader of the Green Party. Over the past six years, I’ve supported thousands of activists to run successful campaigns to get Green councillors elected all across the country.

Now I want to build on that success. With more local elections taking place than ever before next year – we have a real opportunity to transform local communities, with even more Green councillors. I want to support all of our incredible councillors to deliver a Green recovery from the coronavirus crisis – which puts both people and the planet ahead of private profit.

Womack doesn’t only have her sights set on local elections. She also wants to use a fourth term as the party’s deputy leader to break through in Welsh politics for the first time, seeking to become the first ever Green to be elected to the newly renamed Welsh Parliament, pledging to make the party “the new force in Welsh politics”.

Womack is the party’s lead candidate in the South Wales East region for next year’s elections to the Welsh Parliament – a region which contains her hometown of Newport.

Womack told Bright Green:

We know the importance and power of having a Green in the room. From the Scottish Parliament to the London Assembly, from Westminster to local councils, Greens have been instrumental in changing the conversation on climate change and social justice.

But there’s never been a Green in the Welsh Parliament. As deputy leader going into next year’s Welsh Parliament elections, I want to be the first Green elected to the Senedd.

Across the UK, the Green Party is a powerful force for good in politics. Now we can be the new force in Welsh politics.

At the time of publication, only one other candidate has stepped forward for the deputy leadership election. Womack – seen as being on the left of the party – will be going up against London based Nick Humberstone, a current member of the Young Greens structures and procedures committee.

Meanwhile, Sian Berry and Jonathan Bartley have announced they are seeking re-election as co-leaders of the party. As of yet, the pair are the only candidates to step forward for the leadership.

Nominations for the Green Party’s leadership elections close on June 30, with members voting on their new leadership team throughout August.

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Image credit: Channel 4