The Green Party's Fiona Gomez, Anne Critchley, Rob Pass, Mat Hayward, Simon Partridge and Linda Jones

The Green Party will come back with a vengeance in Lichfield and Burntwood, claims branch chairman Mat Hayward.

Mr Hayward also stood for Lichfield District Council, but missed out on a Stowe ward seat despite gaining 635 votes.

Eddie Jones, who also stood for the local party in Fazeley, won 197 votes.

Robert Pass was the Green Party’s first parliamentary candidate in the area since 1990 and finished fifth in the poll with 1,976 votes.

Mat Hayward
Mat Hayward

Mr Hayward believes that there is plenty of optimism that the party can take away from their results.

“I think the fact that 635 people were willing to vote for someone they didn’t know on the basis of a party rosette is positive,” he said of his own result. “Perhaps if I had spent more time campaigning in Stowe I could have convinced more people to vote for me.

“As a party we’ll take things one step at a time. I want the Lichfield and Burntwood Green Party to remain active on social media and to keep people updated over the next five years. I want to galvanise and inspire our members to keep moving the party forward towards the 2019 local elections and 2020 general election.”

Mr Hayward believes the Greens can be a catalyst for change on local and national issues.

He said: “We need social action and as a local branch we want to begin changing things for ordinary men and women. We need to convince the people of Lichfield and Burntwood that HS2 is not a done deal.

“Locally, we want to protect Lichfield Library and to be a champion for the most vulnerable in our society who will suffer under five years of Conservative rule.”

NCTJ-trained reporter with experience in a wide variety of journalism settings.