{"id":907915,"date":"2026-04-21T01:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/907915\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T01:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:38:22","slug":"manchester-councillor-joins-greens-inspired-by-partys-campaign-in-gorton-and-denton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/907915\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester councillor joins Greens inspired by party&#8217;s campaign in Gorton and Denton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ardwick councillor&#8217;s move comes weeks ahead of the local elections in May.<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Councillor Amna Abdullatif (centre left) has joined the Green Party\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_JS403610863.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Councillor Amna Abdullatif (centre left) from Ardwick has joined the Green Party\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Councillor Amna Abdullatif (centre left) from Ardwick has joined the Green Party(Image: Manchester Green Party)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">An independent councillor in Manchester has joined the Green Party after being inspired by Hannah Spencer\u2019s campaign in the <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/gorton\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Gorton<\/a> and <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/denton-and-audenshaw\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Denton<\/a> by-election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Amna Abdullatif, who holds a seat in Ardwick, has switched to the Greens after serving as an independent since 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">She was first elected in 2019 and was a <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/labour-party\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Labour<\/a> member until she <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/news\/greater-manchester-news\/manchester-councillor-resigns-party-over-27918621\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">quit the party<\/a>, putting it down to Sir Keir Starmer&#8217;s stance on Gaza and Israel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a aria-label=\"Click hereLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=e29ee8c7-06ed-4603-a342-72fd4cc91649&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> for the latest on Greater Manchester&#8217;s politics in our newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Coun Abdullatif said she got involved with the Greens during the Gorton and Denton by-election in February where Hannah Spencer was elected as MP.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Ardwick councillor said: \u201cI just felt a real connection to what the movement had become for the Greens, the energy of it and how welcoming they were even though they knew I wasn\u2019t a Green Party member.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">She added that she felt part of a party \u2018filled with energy and hope for something different for this city but also for this country.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Manchester council is held by Labour who have a large majority in the chamber\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_JS402951708-1.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Manchester council is held by Labour who have a large majority in the chamber\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Manchester council is held by Labour who have a large majority in the chamber(Image: Declan Carey \/ Local Democracy Reporting Service)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The local elections are taking place on May 7 and one third of council seats in Manchester are up for grabs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Coun Abdullatif\u2019s seat is not up for election this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Her move to the Green Party gives the group four seats in the council chamber in Manchester, on par with the <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/liberal-democrats\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Lib Dems<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Labour runs the council and holds 87 seats, and one seat is held by the Workers Party of Britain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Coun Abdullatif added: \u201cI\u2019ve been really surprised by the level of energy and people who are just out and about for the first time I\u2019m receiving leaflets from the Greens locally, so there\u2019s definitely a different energy in the party itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cI do have a lot of hope that we\u2019ll see a lot more Green councillors come May, particularly in areas like <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/moss-side\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Moss Side<\/a> and parts of the city that have been fought for a number of years and come close.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Coun Astrid Johnson, leader of the Green Party on Manchester council, said: \u201cOn a personal level the relationship has always been very good because Amna is an incredibly passionate person and intelligent speaker on issues we align with.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re not going all out to convince people to defect, it has to come from councillors themselves [to decide] where their political home is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ardwick councillor&#8217;s move comes weeks ahead of the local elections in May. Councillor Amna Abdullatif (centre left)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[10840,748,393,4884,2465,8828,285,16,15],"class_list":["post-907915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-ardwick","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-council","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116440145001784024","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}