Green Party co-leader rules out coalition with Conservatives if Labour loses control of Sunderland City Council in May

Carla Denyer was speaking as she visited Sunderland to meet with party activists and candidates on a whistlestop tour of the region ahead of May’s council elections.

She was commenting in the wake of comments from Sunderland Tory leader Cllr Antony Mullen earlier this month on the possibility of the council slipping into No Overall Control after the elections in May.

Cllr Mullen told the Financial Times his party was working closely with the Liberal Democrats to oust sitting Labour members, and also referred to the Greens ‘helping strategically target Labour seats’.

Ms Denyer confirmed that the party was feeling confident about May’s vote – but was adamant that while its councillors would be willing to work with others on individual issues, they would not form a coalition with the Tories in the event of Labour losing its majority.

"We obviously are aiming to get Green candidates elected and it is true we are campaigning hard in some areas to do that but the Greens in Sunderland would not go into coalition with the Tories,” she said.

“We would work with other parties on specific issues. It is not about forming a coalition, it is about working together on particular votes where they agree, then opposing when they disagree.”

Asked why voters should back her party rather than they usual choice, she said: “Greens can offer a fresher and more independent perspective, I think.

"The council is so dominated by Labour here that it can be a bit stuck in its ways and suggestions to do things differently aren’t always received constructively.

“One of the things that is different about the Greens is we don’t tell our councillors how to vote, which means they can represent residents’ concerns rather than just voting how the national party wants them to."

The party has already won one seat on Sunderland City Council. Dom Armstrong was elected to the Washington South seat in 2019 but resigned last year after becoming ‘increasingly uneasy’ over the party’s stance on women’s rights.

Carla Denyer said his victory demonstrated that the party could win on Wearside – ‘it shows that it is possible because it has already been done once,’ she said.

The party is putting candidates up in every ward across the city in May but is particularly pinning its hopes on Silksworth and candidate Chris Crozier: “I don’t want to be cocky, but I think we have got a really good chance here,” said Ms Denyer.

“The responses we are getting on the doorstep are that a lot of people are very open minded, they have already heard good things about Chris Crozier and the hard work he has done for the community and a lot of people are considering voting Green for the first time.

“We have got a complete slate but Chris is the candidate we think is most likely to get in.”

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