Green councillor named ‘most inspiring’ after defecting and holding onto seat

A Peterborough City Council (PCC) councillor says she’s “pleased” to have been named the Green Party’s most inspiring councillor in the Eastern region.

Cllr Heather Skibsted won the award this week after having been re-elected to her Orton Longueville seat in May.

She was the only Green in the region to retain her seat after defecting from Labour; Imtiaz Ali, another Labour-to-Green defector, lost his Fletton and Woodston seat on the night.

“I’m very pleased,” Cllr Skibsted said of her win. “I worked very hard, did a lot of door-knocking and put a lot of time and effort into the campaign.”

The awards, which specifically recognised councillors’ achievements during this year’s local election period, were presented by the Eastern Greens.

Peterborough’s cohort were up for three – best polling day operation, best campaign co-ordinator and most inspiring councillor – and won one.

Cllr Skibsted's election win, by more than 300 votes, comes at a time when, she points out, "there are a lot of defections"; indeed around a sixth of current PCC councillors are no longer a member of the party they were in when they were last elected.

There have also been suspensions and de-selections; Cllr Skibsted herself was suspended from the Labour Party before she resigned and joined the Green Party.

Cllr Skibsted was one of three ex-Labour hopefuls who ran in this year's local elections; Imtiaz Ali, who joined the Greens, and Ansar Ali, who stood as an Independent, both lost their seats.

Since then, seven further councillors have defected, all from the Conservative Party, with four now members of Peterborough First and three sitting as Independents.

Cllr Skibsted said of her former party that it's "no longer the broad church they claim to be", but added that the Greens are “not against Labour – we’re a different party but we often vote the same way”.

For the chance to form an administration in Peterborough, the Greens would have to collaborate with other minority parties as they would be unable to form a majority on the council without building up significant numbers of seats over successive local elections.

The Greens currently have three seats, meaning their best hope is a future coalition, possibly with Labour, which currently has 14 seats, or the Liberal Democrats, which have eight.

There are no coalition talks currently despite the spate of Conservative resignations; but this could change after the next round of local elections – which in Peterborough are held in thirds – in May 2024.

Retaining a seat after having switched parties is “quite a difficult thing to do”, Cllr Skibsted said, and has redefined local politics in her ward.

“Orton Longueville has never had a Green councillor. It’s always been a Conservative–Labour two-horse race as long as I’ve known. The results have turned that around. It’s a big change of dynamics in that ward.”

She added that she believes the whole group’s campaigning, including door knocking and leafleting, were responsible for her win, as, while she had already been a councillor for four years; “I wouldn't have just won on my name alone, I don’t believe.”

Cllr Skibsted's fellow Greens are leader Cllr Nicola Day (Orton Waterville) and Cllr Kirsty Knight (Orton Waterville), who led the party's election campaign.