Green Party candidate Lorna-Marie Foster won a decisive victory in Portswood during Thursday’s Southampton City Council elections.
She secured the backing of 1,432 residents (38.6%) in the student-heavy area as the Greens gained the seat from incumbent Labour councillor Anne Marie Finn, who received 864 votes (23.3%).
A total of 101 candidates contested 17 of Southampton City Council’s 51 seats in yesterday’s one-third city council elections.
45% of Portswood residents took to the polling station as Foster becomes one of three councillors representing Portswood, joining pre-existing councillors Kat Barbour (Green) and John Savage (Labour).
The result marks a dramatic reversal from the last Portswood election in 2024, when Labour won 1,401 votes compared with the Greens’ 880.
In an interview with Wessex Scene, Foster said “What matters to me is making change, and doing good within Portswood, and bringing people together, and protecting people as well.”
The results saw significant change more broadly across Southampton with Reform UK winning eight seats and the Greens winning four.
The heavy losses of Labour and the Conservatives in Southampton corroborate Green Party leader Zack Polanski’s statement that two party politics is “dead and buried”.
Labour failed to retain 10 of the 12 seats it was defending, while the conservatives lost all four of theirs.
Keir Starmer has insisted that he will not quit as Prime Minister despite significant pressure from his party.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage has described it as a “truly historic shift in British politics”.
With the full results now confirmed, Southampton City Council has moved from a Labour majority control to no overall control, meaning no single party now holds a majority.
Southampton City Council said discussions would take place between the political groups to “agree how an administration can be formed”.
