A Derbyshire councillor has narrowly missed out on becoming a national Green Party Co-Deputy Leader after finishing in third spot out of seven candidates.

The Green Party held the elections over the summer for the Leadership and Deputy Leadership and other Executive roles and the results from these contests were all revealed at an event from 11am, today, Tuesday, September 2, but full details of the votes are still to follow.

NE Derbyshire District Cllr Frank Adlington-Stringer missed out on the Deputy Leadership role after Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali were announced as the new Co-Deputy Leaders joining newly elected Leader Zack Polanski at the helm.

The Returning Officer chose to simply announce the two winners of the Deputy Leadership contest without specifying the number of votes at this stage but confirmed that Zack Polanski received 20,411 votes to become Green Party Leader.

Frank Adlington-Stringer, who represents Wingerworth on North East Derbyshire District Council. (Photo: Contributed)

placeholder image — Frank Adlington-Stringer, who represents Wingerworth on North East Derbyshire District Council. (Photo: Contributed)

Cllr Adlington-Stringer said: “It was an enormous event for the Green Party and it’s exciting to see so many people and the enthusiasm moving ahead and it is a great time to be Green.

“It is something I am proud of to be in the top three for the Deputy Leadership after the campaign and to have had that backing from the Green Party so I am really pleased and really proud and I have enjoyed the campaign and a chance to put out my kind of politics and that does not end today.”

Cllr Adlington-Stringer, who had not endorsed any of the Leadership candidates, has said he was honoured to have been nominated and that this is a decisive moment in the Green Party’s history.

He added: “I would like to offer a massive thank you to all those who have supported me from the campaigning to also being elected as a NE Derbyshire District Councillor because we could not do it without this support.”

Cllr Adlington-Stringer said it had been a shame that someone had publicised Tweets from his teens during the election campaign from when he was a schoolboy with references to suicide which he described as ‘negative campaigning’ and he hopes people will move away from this kind of politics.

Newly-elected Co-Deputy Leader Mothin Ali is a Leeds councillor, who also has a gardening channel on YouTube, and his fellow newly-elected Co-Deputy Leader Rachel Millward is the Co-Leader of Wealden District Council.

Cllr Adlington-Stringer, aged 27, has now been involved in a series of hard fought election contests after he has also missed out on becoming a Derbyshire County Councillor, the NE Derbyshire MP and the East Midlands Combined County Authority’s Mayor but he insists none of this has dampened his enthusiasm.

Newly-elected Green Party Leader, Mr Polanski, said: “The planet is burning and so is the public’s patience. People are rightly feeling let down and angry at Labour and are appalled by the rise of the far-right.

“People have been crushed by spiralling rents and bills while wages have not kept pace. For too long it’s felt like there has been no reprieve. But there is a way forward.”