The Green Party have kicked off their local elections campaign today - and the environmentalist party delivered a furious attack on Reform UK in their speech.Many people are looking for "something different", co-leader Carla Denyer said, before handing over to her colleague Adrian Ramsay.He said: "So which way should people turn? On the one hand, we have the far-right: Reform. A party that uses the politics of fear to divide our communities, and whose policies are explicitly designed to only benefit a small number of the very richest."Reform is a party that wants to privatise our NHS. They want to halt action that would create a healthy, liveable environment. They'd let rich oligarchs buy up our democracy, while sowing division in our society, instead of making the case for the investment that our public services need."Most importantly for these local elections, Reform has no track record of delivering at any level of government. Reform's trying to make gains on the back of a weak and lacklustre political old guard."Yes, they shout the loudest - I think we can all agree on that. But when it comes to getting anything done, offering any real solutions, Reform's rhetoric evaporates."And they will soon crash back to reality and disappear into the aether like Ukip and the BNP before them."WATCH ABOVE.
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00:01My name is Zach Polanski and I'm the Deputy Leader of the Green Party and this is a huge time for our party.
00:07In fact, in the last seven years, every single year we are the only party that has increased its number of councillors year on year.
00:15And as I've been going round the country at the moment, as have the co-leaders, we've been visiting all sorts of places where this kind of excitement is echoed all over the country.
00:24From Mid-Suffolk, where we are running, the council is a majority who are doing lots to protect community services.
00:31I was recently in Worcestershire and just this weekend I was in Lancaster for the Lancashire City Council elections.
00:38They're building hundreds of social and council homes and creating a new solar farm.
00:44But enough from me, I'm delighted to welcome to the stage the MP for Bristol Central and the MP for Waveney Valley.
00:50That's our co-leaders, Carla Dania and Adrian Ramsey.
00:54Thank you so much for being here today in sunny Worcestershire to launch our local election campaign 2025.
01:09It's the first set of elections since our historic wins last July, where we quadrupled our number of MPs in Parliament with nearly 2 million votes.
01:19But it isn't just in the general election that we've been breaking records.
01:23We have a record-breaking number of councillors, more than 800 in 170 councils.
01:29We're already part of running 40 of those councils all across England and Wales.
01:34Now these elections aren't as big as any of us were expecting.
01:39And in changing the rules, Labour have robbed millions of people across the country of their right to have a say in how their local government is run.
01:47And we strongly oppose that decision.
01:49But even with this disappointment, the elections coming up on the 1st of May are incredibly important.
01:56Labour have had nine months to prove themselves, and yet they've failed at every turn.
02:02We, like so many others, were hoping that the change in government would make things better after so many years of the Conservatives' cruel and short-sighted cuts to our public services.
02:11We've said all along that we'll congratulate Labour and support them where we think they're heading in the right direction.
02:18And we'll push them and call them to be more ambitious where we think they're getting it wrong.
02:24Needless to say, we've not done as much congratulating as we would have liked since they came to government.
02:29We were hoping for some positive change, and that just isn't happening.
02:34And with every day, it's looking less and less likely that it will.
02:38Cutting the winter fuel allowance, refusing to end the two-child benefit cap, slashing benefits for disabled people.
02:46Labour are making choices that increase poverty, making things so much worse for so many people,
02:53and burdening councils with an ever-increasing demand for services on only a fraction of the financial support they need.
03:01After 14 years of failure from the Conservatives, voters are telling us that this Labour government has been a crushing disappointment,
03:11unwilling to equip councils with what they need to actually support our communities.
03:16So we know that in these local elections, where they're still happening, many people are looking for something different.
03:24So which way should people turn?
03:26Well, on the one hand, we have the far right, Reform.
03:30A party that uses the politics of fear to divide our communities,
03:35and whose policies are explicitly designed to only benefit a small number of the very richest.
03:41Reform is a party that wants to privatise our NHS.
03:45They want to halt action that would create a healthy, liveable environment.
03:48They'd let rich oligarchs buy up our democracy, while sowing division in society,
03:54instead of making the case for the investment that our public services need.
03:59And most importantly for these local elections, reform has no track record of delivering at any level of government.
04:06Reform's trying to make gains on the back of a weak and lacklustre political old guard.
04:12Guess they shout the loudest, I think we can all agree on that.
04:16But when it comes to getting anything done, offering any real solutions,
04:21Reform's rhetoric evaporates, and they will soon crash back to reality
04:25and disappear into the ether like UKIP and the BNP before them.
04:29Meanwhile, there are people like our councillors up and down the country,
04:34some of whom are with us today, but most of whom are out knocking on doors,
04:38speaking to voters right now.
04:40The over 800 Green councillors across England and Wales,
04:44who between them already represent millions of people in this country,
04:48who are working hard every day to make a difference for their communities.
04:52Working all year round on practical solutions,
04:55not just turning up on the doorstep at election time.
04:59These people are offering hope, not division.
05:03Community, not chaos.
05:06You already heard from Zach about our tours around the country,
05:10our visits to places where we're hoping to gain even more Green councillors.
05:15Because we know that when people vote Green,
05:18they get the real change that we so desperately need.
05:21That's why we've seen Greens continually grow our councillor numbers,
05:25growing year on year, election after election.
05:28In fact, we're the only party in the UK
05:30to have grown our number of councillors every year for the last seven years,
05:35because voters are liking what they see and voting for more of it.
05:39Take housing, which is so important to every one of us.
05:42Here in Warwick District, where we lead the council,
05:46we've invested millions in making council homes warmer and cheaper to run.
05:51And in Mid-Suffolk, in my area, another Green Run Council,
05:54in one year, we've prevented hundreds of people
05:57from becoming homelessness by building new affordable housing.
06:01And in Bristol, where I'm an MP,
06:04the Green Run Council is building hundreds of new warm, affordable homes
06:08on brownfield sites near the city centre,
06:11so that people can live in the heart of their communities.
06:14They're also investing in making improvements to council homes,
06:18so that residents can be proud of where they live.
06:21Our councillors are embedded in their communities,
06:24listen to the needs and concerns of their residents,
06:27their neighbours,
06:27and take action to improve their quality of life every day.
06:31We feel so proud to lead this party full of brilliant people like these, like you,
06:38a party which has something meaningful and worthwhile to offer,
06:42which isn't stuck in the past,
06:45trotting out the same old, tired policies which didn't work then and won't work now,
06:50which already represents people, millions of people,
06:53in cities, on the coast, in market towns and rural communities.
06:57It's experienced, principled, hard-working,
07:00and will always put our communities at the heart of everything we do.
07:05We know people are struggling,
07:08and that many councils are struggling to help them,
07:12close to breaking point after 14 years of conservative cuts,
07:17followed by the crushing disappointment of a new Labour government failing to support them.
07:23At a time when local councils are facing major reorganisation and underfunding,
07:30Green councillors will fight for a healthy local democracy
07:33and the right of residents to shape their own communities.
07:38These local elections are important.
07:41We can see that reform is throwing everything at them
07:44because they want to take advantage of voters feeling,
07:48understandably, let down by both Labour and the Conservatives.
07:53But we are here to say that voters have another choice,
07:58a positive choice.
07:59Instead of one of the tired old parties,
08:02or worse, a party that is divisive, dishonest, in disarray,
08:06that wants to tear things down, not build communities up,
08:09and has no track record of delivering,
08:12we are offering a party that listens,
08:15that responds to the needs of communities.
08:17We are offering a party that is growing,
08:20has increased its councillors nearly fivefold over the last five elections,
08:25and that is part of running over 40 councils across the country.
08:29A party that delivers and helps make life better.
08:32We know that politics in this country isn't providing people with what they need,
08:39that disillusionment is high and morale is low.
08:43But up and down the country, Greens are making a difference.
08:47We are smashing through records,
08:49getting more and more hard-working councillors elected,
08:52taking votes from the old tired parties to offer something different,
08:57the positive change that's so desperately needed.
08:59And with the support of voters on the 1st of May,
09:03we will be making that difference,
09:05offering that positive change to even more communities.