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Norwich Greens leapfrog Lib Dems to become main opposition to Labour

2nd May 2008

The result sets Councillor Adrian Ramsay on course to win Charles Clarke's Norwich South seat, becoming one of the first Green MPs elected to Westminster.

Finishing the night with an increased number of City Council seats from 10 to 13, Norwich Green Party has leapfrogged the Liberal Democrats to become the official opposition on Norwich City Hall, just 2 seats away from the ruling Labour Party. At the same time, the Greens have beaten Labour on local election vote share across the Norwich South Parliamentary constituency by approximately 2000 votes. For the first time, the Norwich Greens also won more votes than Labour across the entire city.

This historic election sees the Norwich Greens become the most powerful Green Group of councillors in the country. The result also sets Nelson Ward Green Party Councillor Adrian Ramsay on course to win Charles Clarke's Norwich South seat, becoming one of the first Green MPs elected to Westminster.

Councillor Ramsay, Norwich South PPC and Leader of the Green Party Group on Norwich City Council, said of the results:

"I'm delighted that we've achieved such an excellent result. Thousands of Norwich residents have endorsed our positive campaign based on more environmentally friendly and socially fair policies for the City Council. We need more affordable housing, comprehensive recycling facilities, better energy efficiency and more renewable energy in new developments and we need to protect the city's natural and historic assets. With more Green councillors elected I hope that we can get more of these policies adopted.

"The Green Party is now clearly the main challenge to Labour in Norwich, both on the City Council and as we bid to win the Norwich South Westminster seat from Charles Clarke at the next General Election."

The full list of Green gains on Norwich City Council is:

Town Close Ward - (Samir Jeraj)

Mancroft Ward - (Adrian Holmes)

Thorpe Hamlet Ward - (Peter Offord).

The Greens also successfully defended the following seats:

Nelson Ward - (Bob Gledhill)

Wensum Ward - (Ruth Makoff).

The political make-up of Norwich City Council is now:

Labour: 15 seats.

Green Party: 13 seats

LibDems: 6 seats

Conservatives: 5 seats

Norwich City Council is in no overall control. Labour is expected to continue running a minority administration with the Green Party as the main opposition group.

In non-Norwich related news, it was an evening of mixed results for the Greens. Margaret Wright finally made the Green breakthrough in Cambridge, which will strengthen Norwich councillor Rupert Read's MEP election bid next year, although possible gains in Colchester weren't forthcoming.

Over in Liverpool, Sarah Jennings will be joining Cllr John Coyne on the City council to give the Greens group status there, raising the support for Peter Cranie's 2009 North West Euro Election campaign.

Not so great news in Oxford, where the Green Party finished with a net loss of 1 seat as the serving councillor in Holywell stepped down, and the hoped-for gain in Carfax wasn't to be.

The only other loss last night was the only Green seat in Manchester, Hulme, where again the serving Green councillor stepped down making it difficult to defend the seat.

Counting had now begun on numerous councils around the country, and results are expected to begin arriving soon, so please keep a check on the constantly updated results page at www.votegreenparty.org.uk

ENDS

For more information about the night's results in Norwich, please call:

Councillor Adrian Ramsay on 07940 930465

For information about the national local election's results, call:

Matt Hanley on 020 7561 0282 or 07766 592 126

Green Party Press Office 020 7561 0282 www.greenparty.org.uk

Published and promoted by Jim Killock for the Green Party, both at 1a Waterlow Road, London N19 5NJ.