Green Party's bid for council seats 'surge'

Natalie Bennett launches the Green Party campaign

The Green Party is aiming to build on 2015's "surge" in votes and membership to boost its representation on English councils in the local elections.

Launching her party's campaign in Bristol, Natalie Bennett said councils "desperately need a new green broom".

The party is standing more than 1,500 candidates on 5 May.

It received a record vote share of 3.8% in the 2015 general election. However, its increase in support did not result in another parliamentary seat.

A guide to May's elections

Ms Bennett said Green membership had more than trebled. "We got more than 1.1m votes in the general election - we are aiming to turn that green surge into green seats."

She said she hopes to increase the party's presence on councils where it has representation - like Bristol, Liverpool, Norwich, Sheffield and Oxford - but also make inroads into those which currently have no Green councillors.

She said her councillors had "fought tooth and nail" to protect services and the vulnerable from spending cuts by "challenging the destructive budget priorities of councils led by the old parties that have run out of ideas".

"We are a party very much on the up. We offer policies that work for local communities, that work for the common good within the environmental limits of our one planet."

The Green Party currently has 168 councillors in England. They gained 10 seats overall in the 2015 local elections but lost minority control of Brighton and Hove - which in 2011 became the first UK council to be led by the party.

As well as the local authority elections in England on 5 May, polls are being held for the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations as well as to elect a London mayor and police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.