THE Greens in Wirral are celebrating after a great night for the party saw them make significant headway on the peninsula as some voters rejected Labour. 

Thanks to three gains, one from a vacant seat and the other two from Labour, the Green Party now has nine councillors.

The Greens' success in Wirral was reflected nationally with the party also winning seats in South Tyneside and Coventry.

Si far the party has gained 12 seats in areas around the country.

Speaking to the BBC, co-leader of the Green Party Carla Denyer, says Partygate came up on the doorstep but it was "far from whole story".

She says her party has been making gains "year-on-year" and that tonight's results are "part of a broader pattern".

"As people learn about the Greens they see they agree with us... there is no such thing as a safe seat for the Conservative and Labour anymore," she says.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay added the local election results showed the party was now a "credible alternative to the establishment parties", adding that Greens had "now made breakthrough gains three elections running" and were expecting that trajectory to continue.

 

For Wirral's Green Party leader, Cllr Pat Cleary, it was a night that will be long remembered.

He said: "I'm absolutely thrilled. Over the moon.

"It’s three new Green councillors, a group of nine now on the council and we're comfortably the third biggest group eating further into Labour’s vote.

“We’re taking votes off every party and this is just an astounding achievement for the Green Party to have nine councillors in Wirral now, compared to the one we had four years ago.

“It’s a big boost and the reward for lots of endeavour and hard work."