Greens win historic first council majority with victory in Mid Suffolk

The Green Party has claimed a historic victory after winning a council majority for the first time anywhere in the country.

The party has won enough seats to take control of Mid Suffolk District Council, which had previously been in no overall control, after making gains in Thursday's local elections.

Though the Greens have controlled councils elsewhere in the country, the result in Mid Suffolk marks the first time the party has won an outright majority.

By 4pm on Friday, the Greens had won at least 20 of the 34 seats on the council.

Former Conservative council leader Suzie Morley said the local party had paid the price for national failings.

"There's obviously a national issue playing out here," she told ITV News Anglia.

"The one thing the Conservatives could always be relied upon for was the economy. Once you've lost your reputation for the economy that makes it really quite difficult."

Since 2019, Conservatives have held 16 of the 34 seats on the council, with the Greens holding 12, the Liberal Democrats five and one Independent.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay told the PA news agency: “For the first time anywhere outside Australia we’ve seen the Greens take the majority control of a council.

“It’s enormous because what we’ve seen over the last four sets of election since 2019 is the Green party really coming of age as a mainstream party in this country.”

He later added: "This paves the way for success in the general election next year in Waveney Valley. Greens have taken majority control of the main council in the area, as well as winning all four seats in the two East Suffolk wards in the constituency [Bungay and Halesworth].

“Just a few months ago, a by-election saw us become the largest party on Bristol City Council. If these results are replicated in a general election, we will be well on the way to my co-leader Carla Denyer being elected in Bristol and myself elected in Waveney Valley.”

The Greens were also behind the Conservatives losing overall control of East Hertfordshire, where no party won a majority.

Seventeen Green candidates won spots on the council on Thursday’s votes.

In Mid Suffolk, Mr Ramsay vowed to be responsive to local concerns and focus on housing which is currently “far too expensive for local people and outside their reach”.

He said the Green-run council plans to advocate for more social housing and being tougher with developers on affordable housing.

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