Politics is about much more than party politics. It’s about community, about systems, about values and cooperation.
That said, forgive me for taking a moment to celebrate the group of people that have helped me find my feet on how to be effective in these systems: Newcastle Green Party.
If you’re watching the election results, and wondering how we did in Newcastle then in short: it’s going well!
We came second! 38% of the vote in Byker went Green. It’s been great to get to know even better my neighbours and members of the community across Byker. Although I didn’t win, the conversations I’ve had has given me lots of thoughts on how we can act right now. As Phill James always reminds me, we don’t need to be in power to use the power you have, and there is so many strengths, talents and stories across the ward to learn from.
With nearly 10% of all votes in Newcastle going Green, there’s much hope for the future. Well done to my friends in South Tyneside Green Party & Darlington Borough Greens for the fantastic gains they made there. It goes to show that the more people sees Greens elected, the more they want to see Greens be elected. Particular congratulations to Shirley Ford, formerly our regional coordinator and forever an all-round powerhouse. Shirley will make such a brilliant councillor I have no doubt!
It’s been such a pleasure working with Phill, Pat Mcgee, Idwal John, Andrew Gray, Anna Foster, Tim Dowson, Tony Waterston, Frances Hinton and our new members who live in Byker and joined because of our campaign.
Congratulations too to Newcastle Labour’s council leader Nick Kemp for holding the seat. I appreciate his comments to the Chronicle today on how the Labour Party will listen and reflect on the results across the city. This is a sign of hope too. We need more Greens, but we also need a diversity of views in our council chamber. To get things done with proper representation we need to all find ways of working together. And yes, a fairer voting system would help a lot here Make Votes Matter.
The work of course continues but it is time now for a few days of rest and reflection.
Thank you again Byker!
Nick Hartley
#Newcastle #LocalElection2023
Byker
