This year’s East Midlands Conference is a celebration of that hard work and a time when we can come together, talk, rest, refuel, and plan. We are holding this year’s event in Derby in a community cinema called QUAD. The building is in the heart of Derby in the cathedral quarter, close to public transport, and the historic Silk Mill on the Derwent. 

We hope you’ll join us for talks throughout the day, and with some luck a chance to meet our leadership and deputy leadership candidates. Invitations will be sent to all in the race and we already have confirmation from a few candidates.

At our conference last year we had a separate online AGM and this allowed more time for talks, breakouts, and socialising, so we thought we would carry this on this year. We will be hosting the East Midlands Green Party AGM on the 14th of August on Zoom. You can sign up here for that event.

We are hugely excited to be having another East Midlands Conference and sincerely hope you can join us, in person or online. We are attempting to run an online version of the conference this year at a reduced rate, as opportunities to participate will be limited, and you’ll have to provide your own tea, coffee, and biscuits. But it might be a long way from your house to the Quad and we want to see you there!

More details will follow, but remember that tickets are limited and we have already had 400 new members in the last month! Grab your spot and we’ll see you on the 19th of July for the big photo!

The post East Midlands Conference 2025 – QUAD Derby 19th July appeared first on East Midlands Green Party.

On Monday 3 March, Shuguftah Quddoos, the former Sheriff of Nottingham, and elected councillor for Berridge Ward, announced her decision to join the Green Party, as her fight to save services in the city continues. Nottingham Green Party extended a warm welcome to Councillor Quddoos, and fully endorsed her call for the Council to do much more to prevent budget cuts impacting on the city’s most vulnerable residents.

A committed supporter of the campaign to save public services from cuts resulting from the Nottingham City Council budget, Shuguftah resigned from the Labour Party in November 2024 after being suspended for voting against the budget in March last year. Continuing to represent residents as an independent since then, the councillor today announced that she has joined the Green Party of England and Wales, recognising the Greens’ values of social justice, equity and community as those for which she has always advocated. In her statement (provided in full below), Shuguftah said, “To me, being Green is about caring for people and caring for the places that they live in. It’s recognising that saving public services and saving the planet are the same fight.”

During a rally on Monday afternoon, fittingly held at Nottingham’s iconic Robin Hood statue, Green Party deputy leader, Zack Polanski, enthusiastically welcomed Shuguftah to the party. Surrounded by local party members and supporters, Polanski, who is also an elected member of the London Assembly, said:

“I’m delighted to welcome Councillor Shuguftah Quddoos to the Green Party, the latest of a growing number of former Labour Party members. Shuguftah is a former Sherriff of Nottingham and knows only too well the high cost paid by our poorest communities from years of austerity imposed on them from the Conservative Government.

“We all hoped that Labour would usher in real change. It has utterly failed. That is why Shuguftah and so many other Labour councillors and Labour Party members have signed up to the Green Party.

“Together, we are offering people real hope and demonstrating that real change is possible. There is a choice between imposing drastic cuts on people’s services or raising a little more tax from the super rich to tackle inequality and help fund those services. Labour is actively choosing cuts. The Green Party wants the super rich to contribute their fair share to begin to reverse the burning inequalities in our country.”

Councillor Quddoos’s statement comes following her attendance at the Nottingham City Council’s budget planning meeting. Joining campaigners outside the Council House before the meeting, she then took her seat, seeking to put a stop to the proposed cuts and ensuring that the voices of vulnerable residents in Berridge and across Nottingham were represented during the discussions. Local democracy reporter, Joe Locker, covered the full breaking story, including the budget meeting, for Notts TV.

Co-chair of Nottingham Green Party, Ellie Jewson, speaking earlier, also endorsed Shuguftah’s commitment to continuing the campaign for a fair budget as a Green Party councillor. She said, “I’m really pleased to welcome Shuguftah to the Greens. Her dedication to representing her community with integrity and putting individuals before party politics is a breath of fresh air in today’s political landscape. It’s rare to find someone who is consistently striving for positive change, and her experience will be invaluable as we work together to create a fairer, greener Nottingham.”

As the party prepares to stand a full slate of candidates in the up-coming elections in Gedling and Rushcliffe, Shuguftah becomes the third sitting Green Party councillor in the greater Nottingham area, joining Councillors Richard Mallender and Sue Mallender who represent Lady Bay on Rushcliffe Borough Council.

Full statement from Councillor Shuguftah Quddoos

Today I am joining the Green Party and will sit as a Green councillor for the remaining two years of my term. This decision has come after a lot of reflection and countless conversations with the people who elected me. They, like me, feel that Labour has moved away from them, not the other way around.

I still stand for the principles I always have: dignity, justice and a good life for everyone. I will be able to serve my residents better in a party which holds these same values and that doesn’t sanction me for speaking up when it matters. As a Green I am free to use my vote to do what’s right for my residents. Their voice is my voice, their needs are my needs.

Nottingham has only ever had one Green councillor before me – John Peck, in Bulwell back in the 90s. He was a community man who knew the streets he represented like the back of his hand. In it for solutions, not status. That’s the kind of councillor I aspire to be.

I admit that once upon a time I thought the Greens were a single-issue environmental party and nothing more. What I’ve discovered is a party with a full range of sound policies like a new National Health and Social Care Service, replacing the broken model of council tax, and abolishing the two-child benefit cap – all things that would benefit Nottingham. Our city ranks 11th out of 317 districts in England for deprivation. Labour’s austerity 2.0 and performative cruelty aren’t the answer here, or anywhere.

Many people in my ward are living paycheck to paycheck, being squeezed by rising rents. First and foremost, our communities deserve the security of having their basic needs met, but they deserve more than that – to thrive not simply survive.

Cleaner streets, connecting to nature, breathable air and everyday beauty shouldn’t belong exclusively to the fortunate few who can afford to move out of the inner city. To me, being Green is about caring for people and caring for the places that they live in. It’s recognising that saving public services and saving the planet are the same fight.

I will continue to be a fierce defender of community centres, libraries, and local jobs in the face of this Labour council’s cuts. However, I don’t only want to be a voice of opposition. I want to be part of imagining new, better things for Berridge ward and this city. That includes supporting CN28. The Green Party’s spirit of collaboration will allow me to do that alongside vital grassroots organisations like Resolve Notts, the Pythian Club, Heya Nottingham and more.

People want alternatives. Having real choices and space for real criticism is part of any healthy democracy. And in the home of Robin Hood, it’s only fitting to have a splash of Green.

The post A New Splash of Green for the East Midlands! appeared first on East Midlands Green Party.

On Saturday 13 June, Nottingham Green Party hosted the East Midlands Regional Conference at the Queen’s Walk Community Centre in The Meadows. This was an opportunity to welcome over 80 of our fellow members from around the region, celebrate our four new MPs and other successes over the year, and think together about how we can build further on this base. It was especially exciting to see lots of new members coming along, reflecting the party’s growing membership base nationally and here in the East Midlands.

The day began with an overview from the new co-chairs, Frank Adlington-Stringer and Ben Gray, who thanked the outgoing committee, as well as the conference organisers, and laid out their plans for the coming year. This was followed by break-out sessions, with those attending choosing from a fun Green Bingo session, a welcome meeting dedicated to New Members, and a Local Party Coordinators Meeting. Then we heard from the region’s Field Coordinator, Laurie Needham, who led an insightful review of the General Election. After a very tasty lunch, there were talks about Solar Farms from the perspectives of two different stakeholders, and a look back at our outstanding regional performances in the recent Mayoral and PCC elections. The concluding speaker, Zack Polanski, the Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, took the stage to thank all members for their commitment, reflect on the recent election campaign and lay out strategies for growing our membership and support through engaged community action, especially now there are four MPs with a profile to put our ideas forward in the media. Those staying on after the conference enjoyed some more informal discussion and brainstorming in the nearby Vat and Fiddle. 

Overall, the day was a very fitting way to mark the recent electoral successes, a friendly and relaxed way for members all across the region to get to know each other, and a great chance to share our ideas and build the platform for a politics of real hope and real change!

Thanks to Murray Pratt for the excellent write up of the day!

The post Green Party East Midlands conference – Nottingham 2024 appeared first on East Midlands Green Party.

Green Party members across the East Midlands converged on Leicester on Saturday, 24^th June to attend the annual East Midlands Conference.

In St Martins House, near the famous statue of Leicester suffragette Alice Hawkins, representatives and members gathered to hear from key Green speakers, such as Baroness Natalie Bennett of the House of Lords

The conference provided both a recap of recent Green successes in the local elections as well as offering a platform for many Green leaders to speak to members directly, offering advice and hearing feedback from members.

Attracting members from across Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, many new councillors elected in May were also in attendance.

Speaking to the assembly, Natalie, one of only two Green members of the House of Lords, talked positively about the future of the Green Party, as “centrist” parties failed to offer real solutions to the issues voters care about.

Where the Green Party were once mocked for being ‘too radical’, she said, key Green policies, such as electoral reform, Universal Basic Income and the importance of renewable energy were now being increasingly engaged with and supported.

The Green Flag Flying Outside the EMGP 2023 Annual Meeting and Conference in Leicester

With Natalie predicting further electoral successes in the coming elections, she urged all members to remain active and to continue fighting for local communities.

With 42 councillors now in office since the May 2023 Local Elections, there was much to be optimistic about, and the Green Party is looking to keep up momentum to expand their successes in the coming general and local elections.

The post East Midlands Greens Host 2023 Annual Meeting in Leicester appeared first on East Midlands Green Party.