Green Party Leader Claims Momentum to Replace Labour After Local Wins

Green Party of England and Wales leader Adrian Ramsay said his belief that the party could replace Labour is gaining support at the ballot box.

The Greens took control of Norwich, Hastings and the London borough of Waltham Forest. They also won mayoral contests in Hackney and Lewisham.

The party elected its first two members to the Welsh Parliament. The Scottish Greens won their first-ever constituencies at the Scottish Parliament.

Ramsay said some voters chose the Greens because they felt disillusioned with Labour. He added it was exciting that lots of people were supporting the party for the first time.

Rising support helped the Greens gain seats across England, including in Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Oxford and Exeter.

One standout win came in Hackney, where Zoë Garbett beat her Labour opponent for the mayoralty. Ramsay called it a historic victory. It was followed by Liam Shrivastava's defeat of Labour to become mayor of Lewisham.

After the Hackney result, Ramsay said: "Two-party politics is not just dying, it is dead and it is buried. And actually, whether it's here that Labour have been rejected, or whether we're seeing around the country, it's very clear that the new politics is the Green Party versus Reform."

Ramsay said there had been a rise in the Green vote, regardless of whether it reflected positive support for his party or protest against the Labour government. "I think people are both sick of Labour but also really excited by a Green alternative," he added.

Ramsay said he believes Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer needs to go. "But I don't think that's my message, I think that's the country's message," he said.

Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward said the party massively increased its vote share nearly everywhere it stood. She cited a massive breakthrough in London and gains in Manchester that exceeded expectations.

Polling expert Sir John Curtice said the Greens recorded their best-ever performance. He projected a national vote share for Britain of 18% for the Greens, behind Reform UK at 26% but ahead of Labour and the Tories at 17% each and the Liberal Democrats at 16%.

The projection came from results in more than 1,000 wards where the BBC gathered detailed voting data. It assumed non-voters would have cast ballots like those who did.