At 21 years old, Thomas Daw is the youngest councillor on North Somerset Council and — until the recent local elections — was the Green Party’s youngest councillor in the country.

Now he has launched a bid to become the party’s new deputy leader. Mr Daw told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We are the best performing party among 18-24 year olds and there’s no one in our leadership that reflects that.”

Currently deputy leader of the Green Party, Zack Polanski, became the first to announce his bid to run for party leader, calling for the Greens to embrace “eco-populism” to take on Reform. Unlike other political parties where leaders stay in post until they resign, the Green Party holds regular leadership elections for which you do not have to be an MP to run.

Mr Daw said he was backing Mr Polanski. Asked if the party needed to be more populist, he said: “Absolutely. We need more fire.

“We have had the two years of the nice people. Its gotten us to where we are but, with the rise of Reform and with it coming to a little bit more of a fight, I think we need the power of the people to stand up and take on that fight. Or we are going to slowly plod along.”

Mr Daw has been the Green councillor for Wrington on North Somerset Council since November 2023. He said he had helped the Greens run campaigns locally, including the 2024 Avon Police and Crime Commissioner election where the Greens came third with 21.7 per cent of the vote, their best ever result in a police and crime commissioner election.

In a statement, he said: “I’m standing for deputy leader because the Green Party needs a leadership team that can seize this political moment. Working-class communities, particularly young people, face impossible choices: unaffordable housing, crumbling infrastructure, and poisoned countryside. The system is failing us all.”

He added: “The Green Party has the vision people are desperate for – a sustainable economy, climate action, and better living standards. But we need leadership willing to make our case with clarity and charisma. With me as deputy leader, our message resonates in all communities by shouting about our economic policies that address both climate and inequality crises and challenging both Reform’s hateful scapegoating and Labour’s empty promises.

“Our party is ready for national leadership, but only if we’re bold enough to claim it. I will help the Green Party become the true home for voters abandoned by the political establishment.”

The Green Party currently has two co-leaders, one of whom is Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer. She announced (May 8) she would not be running for re-election.

Green Party leadership elections happen every two years. One had been due to happen in 2024 but it was suspended to avoid a clash with the general election. Green Party members will cast their votes in August with the new leader and deputy leader to be announced on September 2.