As the Green Wave sweeps through the country, Nottingham Green Party is celebrating a successful local election for 2019, holding our two seats in Rushcliffe and increasing our vote share across all three councils we represent.
Sue and Richard Mallender were both re-elected on May 2nd as representatives for Lady Bay on Rushcliffe Borough Council, with 35% and 33% of the vote respectively. This is up from 25% each in the last local election in 2015. It’s clear that the hard work of Green councillors like Sue and Richard really does pay off at the ballot box and that constituents support the work they have put in for the ward and in pushing the entire council forwards, particularly in terms of environmental issues.
Months of campaigning work in Mapperley ward in Nottingham City pulled our candidates into a strong second place. Catherine Wakeman took 10% of votes, Neil Barrett got 8% and Jonathan Walker received 7%, putting us firmly ahead of the Conservatives and miles in front of the Liberal Democrats despite their national resurgence. Having only stood a single candidate in Mapperley in 2015 it is a huge achievement to have moved so far in a single election cycle.
In Ruddington ward of Rushcliffe Borough Council, Chandler Wilson, Matthew Sisson and Ian Wilson upped the Green Party’s share of the vote in an area that hasn’t traditionally been Green leaning. Taking 28% of votes between them, in Ruddington we were only around 200 votes behind the winning Labour councillors in what was an incredibly tight race.
Nationally, the Green Party saw its best ever local election results, and this put us in a great position for the European elections on May 23rd. With our strong pro-Europe position and our radical stance on climate action – and without the obstacle of the first-past-the-post voting system – we came the closest we had ever come to electing a Green MEP in the East Midlands, with 10.53% of the vote, and electing 7 MEPS across the other regions of England.
We will continue to build on this success in the years to come. To be part of it, join the Green Party today.