Green Party announces Newport native Amelia Womack re-elected as deputy leader

Green Party announces Newport native Amelia Womack re-elected as deputy leader

* Amelia Womack re-elected for third term as deputy

* Green members vote Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry new co-leaders

* Womack will continue to campaign on Green energy for Wales and for the rights of Welsh women and girls

Green Party of England and Wales members have re-elected Amelia Womack as deputy leader of the party for a third term. Womack, who was born and raised in Newport and ran in the 2016 Welsh Assembly election in Cardiff, won with 3,981 of 7,369 total votes cast (54%).

Womack will now continue her push for an environmentally sustainable energy system for Wales and her campaigns on women’s rights, including the campaign to make misogyny a hate crime.

Jonathan Bartley and Sian Berry have also been elected the new co-leaders of the Green party with 74% of the vote. Bartley and Berry launched their leadership by pledging to take the party on the course to become the “third political party in Britain” and get a Green in every council chamber in England and Wales.

The co-leaders said their party will stand as “the opposite of vapid, old school centrist politics” and promised to put forward “bright Green ideas” to answer the big challenges of our time – from Brexit to climate breakdown and the housing crisis, to automation and the broken world of work.

New co-leaders Bartley and Berry won with 6,239 of a total 8,379 votes cast. Contenders Shahrar Ali and Leslie Rowe received 1,466 and 495 votes respectively.

Amelia Womack said:

“I’m incredibly proud to be re-elected as the deputy leader of Green party of England and Wales. Now more than ever Wales needs a champion for our clean energy future. Whether it’s building the Wyfla nuclear plant on Anglesey or the nuclear sludge being pumped into our waters from English power plants, it’s clear that the Welsh people are an afterthought in the Conservative energy agenda.

“The Green Party offers a new, cleaner vision for Wales, and I look forward to working with Sian and Jonathan to push for investment in clean renewable energy schemes for our nation, such as the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.

“It is also crucially important that Wales leads on women’s rights. The moves we have made to liberalise our abortion regime have been welcome, now we need to push for misogyny to be a hate crime. I also want to make public education around LGBTQIA+ issues a major part of my term, as ultimately my goal is to make sure that no Welsh person feels like they a second class citizen in our country.”

Jonathan Bartley said:

“We’re proud to lead a party with a track record on the right side of history and are ready to mobilise a fiercer Green resistance than ever before.

“In council chambers across the country Greens are leading a political revolt against the status quo. We are more determined than ever to take the party to the next level. We want to take the Green Party on a course to become the third political party in Britain, building on this year’s local election success to get a Green on every council in England and Wales.”

Sian Berry said:

“We’re excited to take on leading a buoyant Green Party at this crucial time for our country and party. With Brexit on the horizon and our planet burning, the last thing people need is the stale centrism of the past, which brought us austerity and privatisation – and totally failed to tackle climate breakdown or give people real security and quality of life.

“The Green Party is the opposite of vapid, old school centrist politics, and we are ready to shout louder than ever before about the bright Green ideas needed to face the huge challenges in the world today.

“We will be championing a People’s Vote on Brexit, tackling climate breakdown, ensuring everyone has the right to a safe warm home, and fulfilling work that translates to more time off with our families, not more unemployment as automation grows. We are the only party who can be trusted to stand up for citizens in our nations of England and Wales, instead of the interests of big business or millionaires.”