News / Politics
Green surge sees them become joint biggest party in Bristol
In the early hours of Sunday morning, just minutes after being re-elected as mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees was asked what he thought of a “Green surge” following Sandy Hore-Ruthven’s performance in the mayoral race.
“I mean it is what it is, I don’t know how I exactly feel about it,” said Rees. “But I mean, you’ve got to look at the dynamics. It’s an easy phrase.
“You’ve got to be careful about not taking analysis off a coat peg, off a coat hanger, and then regurgitating them out. That’s a really problematic way to do political insight.”
is needed now More than ever
Later that same day, Rees had lost two members of his cabinet and saw the Green Party become the joint largest party in City Hall alongside his Labour group after they more than doubled their number of councillors.
Within the space of a few minutes at City Academy, Labour cabinet members Kye Dudd and Afzal Shah lost their seats in Central and Easton wards, with Rees’ own home ward of Easton now represented by two Green Party councillors.
Former Bristol lord mayor Carole Johnson also lost her Labour seat in Ashley ward, which now has two Green councillors and one Labour member.
Greens and Labour both now hold 24 seats at City Hall, with 14 Conservative councillors and eight Lib Dems.
Photo: Martin Booth / digital manipulation: Rob Gregory – click here for the full results
Soon after midday on Sunday, a previously quiet room at Oasis Academy Brislington began to fill with dozens of people wearing an assortment of colourful rosettes.
Would the Green surge come to fruition? Well, not in Brislington East where Labour doubled their number of councillors from one to two.
And not in Hillfields, the second ward to declare, where Labour also took both seats: deputy mayor and one of Rees’ closest allies, Craig Cheney, and new councillor Ellie King, who said that she was looking forward to being “a representative for women and the environment” in City Hall.
Elsewhere, however, that Green surge was already starting as the Green Party took both seats in Lockleaze from Labour.
Dudd and Shah were the two biggest scalps of the night, but elsewhere it was a case of multiple Green gains.
In Clifton Down, the Greens increased their majority from just ten to 872; with re-elected Clifton ward candidate Carla Denyer hoping to capitalise on the increased support as she once again contests the Bristol West constituency – where there are now only two Labour councillors.
Central ward went to a recount, but new Labour councillor Farah Hussain was still elected ahead of Dudd.
Former leader of the Green Party group in Bristol, Ani Stafford-Townsend, joins Hussain in representing the ward, telling Bristol24/7 that she is looking forward to holding Rees to account.
“It feels amazing to be back on the council with so many really strong Green fellow councillors,” said Stafford-Townsend, whose husband Simon narrowly missed out on being elected to the same ward.
She added: “I think it’s great to have the balance of power not skewed in the way it has been in the last five years. I think it’s really important for democracy that we have strong oppositions that we will be.”
At the age of just 18, Lily Fitzgibbon, the new Green Party councillor for Bishopston & Ashley Down, has become the youngest elected representative at City Hall.
She said: “Voters here in Bristol care about social and environmental justice and they trust Greens to deliver this.
“I’m so excited that local people have supported us and we will do everything we can to repay the faith that you have shown.”
Lily Fitzgibbon is a founding member of Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate and helped organise the protest attended by Greta Thunberg in February 2020 – photo: Adam Postans
Hardworking Labour councillor Don Alexander was returned in Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston, with Jo Sergeant – who jumped ship from Labour to Green – just 16 votes off being re-elected under her new colours.
Much of north west Bristol including two out of the three seats in Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston and all of the seats in Henbury & Brentry, Stoke Bishop and Westbury-on-Trym returned Conservative Party candidates.
Conservative group leader Mark Weston, reelected in Henbury & Brentry, said: “It’s going to be a very different council… Maybe the mayor will have to moderate that autocracy he loves so much.”
The Liberal Democrats meanwhile, who as recently as 2009 held overall majority control of Bristol City Council, now only have eight councillors.
In Hotwells & Harbourside, new Lib Dem councillor Alex Hartley – who became a candidate when former candidate Stephen Williams stood for WECA mayor – promises to engage with local residents over plans for the Western Harbour development.
“That’s something that hasn’t happened anywhere near enough,” Hartley told Bristol24/7. “I want to try to be their voice. It’s not about what I think should happen, it’s about what local residents want…
“We’ll try to push forward in a consultative way rather than whatever the mayor wants.”
Main photo and all videos: Martin Booth
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