Carla Denyer made the claim at the party's spring conference

The Green Party is set to gain 100 additional Council seats at this year’s local elections, the party’s co-leader Carla Denyer has claimed. She made the comments in her address to the party’s spring conference in Birmingham. 

Denyer told attendees: “2023 is a big year for elections in England. Just over half of all English councils have elections, and we are targeting more seats than ever before.” She added: “We could get 100 new councillors elected, maybe more.”

“Local parties all over England are working hard to continue our unprecedented growth, breaking through on to new councils and gaining control where we already have representation.” 

The Green Party of England and Wales currently has over 500 Councillors elected across the country. That number has grown significantly in recent years. In 2019, the Greens more than doubled their representation in local authorities overnight. 

That success presents a challenge for the Greens. The seats gained in 2019 are those which are up for election this May. This means that the Greens will be defending an unprecedented number of seats. Still, as Denyer’s comments indicate, the party is confident of making new inroads. 

In particular, the Greens are increasingly confident of making significant gains in areas currently controlled by the Tories. In Mid Suffolk, the Greens are the primary challenger to the Tories, and there is an outside chance that they could win enough seats to become not only the largest single party on the Council, but to run it with a majority. 

The Green Party’s spring conference will continue until the end of Sunday. Topics up for debate include the party’s position on HS2 and NATO. 

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy at Left Foot Forward

This article was published jointly with Bright Green

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