A successful defence of their councillor seats in May’s Local Elections mean Sheffield Greens keep their central roles in running Sheffield City Council.
At the council’s AGM, Leader of the Green councillor group, Councillor Douglas Johnson retained his role as Chair of the Housing Committee. Councillor Angela Argenzio kept her position as Chair of the Adult Health and Social Care Committee. The group of 14 retains seats on all the council’s committees, giving a Green voice in the room for every council decision.
In the 2024 local elections, Greens overtook the Liberal Democrats for the first time in their share of the popular vote across the whole city. The Greens are now the main challengers to Labour in Sheffield. New Councillor Peter Gilbert took the Greens first seat from the Liberal Democrats in Ecclesall Ward. In Nether Edge and Sharrow ward, the Greens’ Cllr Maroof Raouf saw off a heavy challenge from Labour.
In addition to success in the Local Elections, Douglas Johnson came second in Sheffield in the race to become Mayor of South Yorkshire.
Councillor Douglas Johnson said,
“I thank the voters right across Sheffield and South Yorkshire for their support for the Greens. We hope to repay that trust over the forthcoming year.
“Local people know we are a positive force on the Council and that we work hard to improve our local and global environment.
“I am really pleased that the Green Party’s share of the vote across the whole of Sheffield has now overtaken the Lib Dems – even though we still only get half their number of council seats.
“What we really need is a fair voting system that properly takes into account people’s votes and elects Councillors and MPs according to the proportion of the votes they receive. We have an electoral system, where Councillors, MPs and Governments can get elected with much less than 50% of the vote and get 100% of the power. This does not reflect the wishes or views of the electorate. The election of Governments with minority support is a significant cause of many of the problems our country faces today, from the failure of Brexit to under funded public services”
Councillor Angela Argenzio said,
“We will continue to work collaboratively with all parties across the political divides. Our approach, as Greens, is not to be tribal politicians. We work together to reach the best outcomes that we can for the people we represent.
“As a Council that is in no overall control, we have helped promote a better political culture. One that is less confrontational, more open to new ideas, and forward thinking.
“No Council is perfect and there will always be political differences. However we will always seek to be respectful and straightforward in how we express those differences.”
References
- Sheffield City Council’s 84 councillors are now: Labour 36, LibDem 27, Green 14, Sheffield Community Councillor Group 6, Independent 1
- Vote share was: Labour 39.8%, Green 22.0%, LibDem 21.7%
- Greens received 28,561 votes across Sheffield.
- The Green councillors elected were: Douglas Johnson (City Ward), Brian Holmshaw (Broomhill & Sharrow Vale), Maroof Raouf (Nether Edge & Sharrow), Alexi Dimond (Gleadless Valley), Christine Gilligan Kubo (Hillsborough) and Peter Gilbert (Ecclesall). Full results here
