May Local Election Results

Chart of rise in councillor numbers

The Green Party had very successful local elections in May 2021.

We gained over 90 councillors in England and Wales bringing our total to around 442 on 141 councils.

In Dorset

There were no elections this year for Dorset Council (the next ones are 2024).

However there was an election for Police and Crime Commissioner for the whole of the county of Dorset including Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.

Our candidate, Claire Seymour, came in third place on first preferences ahead of both Labour and the Lib Dems - a great result which bodes well for her in 2024 and for the Green Party more generally in Dorset.

Dorset PCC result

There were also some town council by-elections and in Lyme Regis our candidate, Vicki Elcoate, came second - only 11 votes behind the independent who won and ahead of the Lib Dems - "they can't win here!"  ;)

In Weymouth, Claudia Webb, our Green candidate in the Wyke Regis town council by-election, came in third place with Labour taking the seat. Wyke is a relatively new area for us but is part of the larger Rodwell and Wyke Dorset Council area so we hope to increase our support there. 

There were a few other town council by-elections in Ferndown, Shaftesbury and Swanage but sadly we had no candidates this time around.

There was one by-election for BCP council with the ruling Conservative Party winning narrowly.

Canford by-election

Around the country:

In Suffolk we gained 6 seats bringing our total to 9 councillors on the 75 seat council. 

In Sheffield, we increased our seats from 8 to 13 on the 84 seat council, unseating the Labour leader and bringing the council under no overall control. An agreement has since been reached with Labour to run the council. In the area covered by the Sheffield Central constituency, we won 42.5% of votes.  The recently proposed boundary changes would make the  parliamentary seat even more favourable territory for the Green Party.

In Bristol, Greens made 13 gains, more than doubling our number of councillors to 24 and making us the joint largest party on the council with Labour. Greens won nearly 50% of the votes across the Bristol West constituency making it a likely target at the next general election. The proposed boundary changes would see the new Bristol Central constituency even more favourable for the Green Party.

In London we had our highest vote share with 3 Greens elected to the London Assembly (Zack Polanski joining Sian Berry and Caroline Russell on the 25 seat assembly). Sian Berry won 7.8% of first preference Mayoral votes (up from 5.8% in 2016) which puts us as the clear third placed party in London ahead of the Lib Dems.

In Scotland, the Scottish Green Party increased its number of MSPs to 8, the highest ever enabling it to increase its influence.

In Wales, we received our highest vote share ever but it was still just short of electing any members to the Senedd. Labour did much better than in England and Plaid Cymru also feature in a crowded political landscape.

All the Green Party wins are listed here: https://campaigns.greenparty.org.uk/local-election-results-2021/

For even more political geekiness you can watch Green Party internal analysis of the results chaired by Caroline Russell with Chris Williams, head of elections, Adam Ramsay, an editor at Open Democracy, and Professor Roger Awan-Scully, professor of political science at Cardiff University. They discuss how the prevailing winds are better for the Green Party, how we benefit from being seen as not part of the establishment, the influence of housing provision on voting patterns, the differing fortunes of Labour in different parts of the country, and how we can win more MPs.

20s Plenty in Dorset

Brian Heatley on the 20s plenty campaign

Brian Heatley

Where Next for Dorset Green Party?

Clare Sutton explores what Dorset Green Party should aim for next.

Dorset green Party logo

Climate and Politics

Kelvin Clayton lifts the lid on campaigning from the inside.

Warming stripes

Renewables in Dorset

Proposals for tidal power around the Dorset coast

Orbital Marine Power turbine