Reflecting on early local election results, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:
“Green councilors are being elected in ever higher numbers across the country and are ready to deliver for their communities.
“We have won our first councilors on Newcastle Council, and our first councilors on Sefton and Redditch, taking seats from Labour and the Conservatives
“We won two new seats on South Tyneside from the Conservatives and Labour.
“And we gained seats In Exeter, Peterborough and Colchester with many of our target seats only set to declare later today.
“North and South, East and West, Greens are winning the trust of voters fed up with the chaos of the Conservatives and the U-turns of Labour.
“We are winning because our message of hope is being heard by new groups of voters. In these elections we have argued for practical solutions to the cost of living crisis, the climate crisis and the cuts to public services, that are clearly resonating with voters.
“More results like this later today and over the weekend and we can be confident that we have the firmest of foundations for our General Election campaign when we are going to do everything we can to get at least four Green MPs elected to Parliament.
“We’ve worked hard for these early breakthroughs and we’ve also been working hard to emerge as largest party in Bristol, Worcester, Stroud and Hastings – the results of which we will see over the next two days.
“We could achieve a record number of seats in Bristol and emerge as the largest party to lead the next administration as the Elected Mayor post is coming to an end following a city-wide referendum – but it is going to be close.”