On Bristol’s harbourside on Friday morning, Carla Denyer was still on the go. The Green party co-leader, newly elected as MP for Bristol Central, had not slept since the count but was happy to pose for selfies with well-wishers and chat to her new constituents. “I’m elated,” she said, as people waved at her.
Denyer is still taking in the scale of the Green party’s achievements. Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow culture minister who had been expected to take up a seat in the Labour cabinet, had a majority of more than 28,000 in Bristol West in 2019, but lost the new Bristol Central seat to Denyer by nearly 10,000 votes. Three more Green MPs were elected across the UK. “This is an historic breakthrough,” Denyer said. “We have quadrupled our representation in the House of Commons overnight. We have got a historic vote share across the country, a historic number of second places, and I expect a historic number of deposits saved as well.”
