We are very excited to have won the first ever Green councillor in Tower Hamlets Council. After a fantastic campaign, Nathalie Bienfait was elected last week as councillor in Bow West. We built a real grass-roots movement during the campaign – over 50 amazing volunteers helped us from across the borough and beyond.
This win builds on decades of green and social justice activism in Tower Hamlets. We have been overwhelmed by the supportive messages we’ve received from all over the borough and from various groups and organisations.
Tower Hamlets results
Across the borough, the Green Party won 9% of the vote share and is now the third party in Tower Hamlets. We are proud that we were able to turn this support into a seat because it is so challenging for a small party to win under First Past the Post.
This set of local elections was particularly interesting in Tower Hamlets. The Labour majority has been overturned by the Aspire party, set up and led by former mayor Lutfur Rahman. Mr Rahman is now the directly elected mayor of the borough and has 24 Aspire councillors, giving the party an overall majority on the council. Labour now have 19 councillors, and the Conservatives have retained their 1 seat.
London and country-wide results
The Green Party had a great set of results from across London too. We gained 11 councillors across London and 80 across England and Wales. These wins bring the total number of Green councillors in England and Wales to 545.
There were particularly impressive gains by Young Greens (Green Party members under 30). There were 5 Young Greens newly elected to London councils this time, including Nathalie.
Nathalie said
“This is the poorest borough in London, and it’s very ethnically diverse. We know that lower income and BAME communities are likely to be among the most affected by the climate crisis. We have an amazing opportunity to work locally to mitigate the effects of this crisis and make sure that solutions are community-led and not imposed top-down.
The fact that our vote share increased shows that more people are looking for answers to the big questions like climate change and the cost of living crisis, and they don’t feel that politics as usual is an option anymore.
The Green Party are really ambitious here in Tower Hamlets and have plans to introduce schemes which will up-skill local workers to retrofit existing homes with insulation and other environmental improvements. We also want to dramatically increase recycling rates in the borough, provide space for residents to grow their own food, and make sure it’s as accessible and convenient as possible to choose to walk, cycle or get public transport to get around.
The Green Party also sets itself apart because we can’t assume that we are going to win elections. The bigger parties can rely on voters to vote for them, but we need to win their trust, which can only be done on the local level. This means that we are genuinely accountable to our voters and are connected to the issues that are important to them.”
Contact Nathalie
You can contact our councillor Nathalie by emailing her: nathalie.bienfait@towerhamlets.greenparty.org.uk