County Durham Green Party celebrating after improving council presence
Amid the fanfare of Reform’s rise on the council, the Green party was saluting its own success story after growing its number of councillors to two.
First elected in 2021, Jonathan Elmer played a key role during the former Joint Administration’s four years in control, diligently contributing across an array of committee meetings. Now, he will work alongside his wife, Priscilla, in the Brandon community and County Hall over the next four years.
Reacting to the result, Mr Elmer said: “I’m absolutely delighted. It’s been a really tough campaign, and we have had to work extremely hard to visit people across our division to understand what people’s priorities are.”
Priscilla was elected to the role after winning 900 votes, narrowly defeating incumbent Independent councillor Paul Taylor. The pair also successfully staved off the threat of the two Reform candidates to increase the Green party’s prominence at County Hall.
The party’s County Durham candidates also received more than 4,000 extra votes at the 2025 local elections compared to 2021, outperforming Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in several wards.
Mr Elmer added: “The Green Party in County Durham is going from strength to strength. We’re pleased with the overall performance. We’re growing, being stronger, and becoming more of a political force on Durham County Council.”
Despite the power shift, Mr Elmer vowed to work with the new leaders to prioritise local policies.
“Reform have their hands on the levers of change completely,” he said.
“I will be offering constructive criticism. I won’t be in opposition because that’s not how I work as a councillor, I want to work with people. It’s going to be interesting to see how things change under this new administration.”
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Green co-Leader Carla Denyer MP pitched the party as the “positive and progressive antidote to Reform” after the local election results around the country.
She said: “The Green Party has broken new records by increasing our number of councillors for the eighth year running. While Labour and the Conservatives have buckled under the Reform insurgency, Greens just keep growing.
“We have taken seats off the Tories and Labour and have shown we can be the positive and progressive antidote to Reform, holding their vote back in some places while breaking through onto other councils where Reform dominated.”