Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley visits Bristol after 'Green surge' in council elections
The co-leader of the Green Party has visited Bristol following the surge of votes for the party in the city's local council elections.
Green candidates knocked former Labour councillors out of multiple wards in Bristol and their success means both parties now have an equal number of seats in City Hall.
Six of the new 13 Green councillors met up with Jonathan Bartley on College Green ahead of being officially sworn into their new roles.
He said that the success of the party in Bristol's council elections is just the beginning.
"We've already put years of work into this area, I think people are now responding to it - it feels like we've reached a tipping point.
"The parliamentary seat of Bristol West is clearly going to be within the party's sights."
One of the new councillors, who is also the youngest to be elected in the city, is 18-year-old Lily Fitzgibbon.
She believes that Bristol is a place that values the need to tackle the climate crisis and that the younger generation is integral to that fight.
She says: "I am very young, I'm not ashamed of my age but I think I've got experience and I think I've got a lot of passion to work hard.
"We are the people who will inherit the Earth, the people who it's up to us to fix it so people are realising that."
Although there were losses for Labour across the region, they managed to keep hold of the top job in Bristol as Marvin Rees was sworn in for his second term as mayor.
Runner up was Sandy Hore-Ruthven who also made history for the Greens, being the first from the party to come second in a UK mayoral race.
He says in light of the council election results Mayor Rees should be considering appointing a 'rainbow cabinet' to reflect the city's votes.
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