In a historic first, Hastings Green Party’s candidate Julia Hilton has won a seat on both Hastings Borough Council (Old Hastings ward) and East Sussex County Council (Old Hastings and Tressell ward).
Julia won by a landslide in the Borough election, with a total of 1032 votes. This was 52% of the vote, and more than all the other candidates combined. The seat had previously been held by an Independent candidate, who had defected from Labour after the 2018 elections. Julia becomes the first Green ever to sit on Hastings Borough Council.
In the county council election, Julia took the seat from Labour, who had held the seat since 1993. Green vote share increased from 11% in 2017, to 38%. She becomes one of four newly-elected Greens on East Sussex County Council, the first Greens ever to sit on that council.
Borough Council results
Hastings Greens did well not just in Old Hastings, but in all the Borough council seats. We increased our vote in every single one of the 16 wards, despite only actively campaigning in Old Hastings.
In three wards (Castle, Central St Leonards and Gensing), we came in second, with 25% of the overall vote. These results show that Greens can win in Hastings, and we’re looking forward to next year’s elections.
County Council results
We also did well in the county council elections, increasing our vote in all eight divisions. We tripled our vote in three divisions (Old Hastings and Tressell; Maze Hill and West St Leonards; St Helens and Silverhill) and received over 20% of the overall vote in three divisions (Braybrooke and Castle; Central St Leonards and Gensing; Old Hastnigs and Tressell).
You can see all the Hastings Borough Council results here, and all the East Sussex County Council results here.