The Green Party says its record-breaking local election result shows Britons are “fed up” with the two-party system after gaining 99 seats and polling highly in the London and Bristol mayoral races.
The Greens won a total of 155 seats and gained representation on 18 new councils in this year’s local elections, bringing the total number of councils with Green representation to 141.
London mayoral candidate Sian Berry came in third place, beating the Lib Dems, while Zack Polanski became its third London Assembly member after the party received 12% of list ballot votes.
Meanwhile, the Greens became the joint biggest party in Bristol, gaining 13 new seats and recording its first second-place result in an election for mayor.
The party also picked up seats on Sheffield City Council and Suffolk County Council.
Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said: “Once again, we are seeing record results for the Green Party. A Green wave is sweeping across the country with Greens winning seats in places dominated by both Labour and Conservatives. These are votes for our strong vision and practical policies for a green future.
“Whether it’s in Burnley or Bristol, people are turning to the Greens because they know that the way we won their vote is the way we will use the power they have given us – with hard work and humility. We will not take their support for granted.
“These results show clearly that people are fed up with the old two-party system which has dominated for so long and caused so much mistrust and damage.
“Greens are now representing communities up and down the country and people can see the impact they make.”
Speaking to Sky News, the co-leader also claimed the party had become England’s third party.
“We’re staking the claim to become England’s third party. And we believe we can make that claim right now.
“We are the only party making gains in this election besides from the Conservatives.
“We are taking seats in equal numbers from Labour and the Tories.
“We are the new significant force in British politics. And we’re not a one-issue party. People get that now.”
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The results come as Labour faces a worse-than-expected election outcome.
The party lost a number of councillors in its former heartlands in northern England and the Westminster seat of Hartlepool, which it has held since its creation in 1974.
Voters in the town backed Tory candidate Jill Mortimer to be their next MP over Labour’s Dr Paul Williams – an avid Remainer and second-referendum campaigner during his time as MP for Stockton South between 2017-19 – in a rare by-election victory for a party in power for more than a decade.
The Conservative, who declared it a “truly historic result”, secured a 6,940 majority winning 15,529 votes to Dr Williams’ 8,589.
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