The Shrewsbury Green Party is celebrating a record surge in membership following the election of national party leader Zack Polanski in September.

At the local party’s AGM on Saturday, attendees were told that membership has seen a 159% rise across Shrewsbury from 160 to 415 members.

It comes as local Green Party groups across the country are seeing a similar wave of new members thanks to what is being dubbed ‘the Zack effect’.

Emma Micklewright, the newly elected Shrewsbury Green Party coordinator and town councillor for Radbrook, says:

‘We’ve seen a huge uptick in membership over the last few months and we are definitely benefiting from “the Zack effect”. There is so much energy in the Green Party, both locally and nationally, right now. Our new leader’s message of hope, fairness and taxing the rich is really cutting through. People want an alternative to the doom-loop of Reform, which offers nothing but hate and division. Greens have a plan to turn things around and people are really responding to that with their heads and their hearts.’

At the AGM on Saturday, attendees were updated on the rise in new joiners by membership officer Jim Reekie. He outlined the demographics of the surge – which includes an exodus of former Labour Party members frustrated by the Government’s endless u-turns.

There has also been a wave of ‘Young Greens’ under 30 who now account for a quarter of Shrewsbury membership and have launched their own group within the local party.

Says Jim Reekie:

‘We’re seeing lots of people joining us saying that they’ve left the Labour Party. I tell them they haven’t left Labour, Labour has left them. We’ve also seen a huge spike in new members since Zack’s visit to the town in October and we are really pleased to see Young Greens surging too. The tectonic plates of politics are shifting and the Green Party is benefiting from that. We’re offering something no one else is – solid values based in fairness and social justice, with a willingness to confront the reality of the accelerating climate and nature crisis. At a time when everything seems broken, we’re the only party with a plan to fix things that puts people, not corporations, first.’

At the AGM members were also updated by local councillors including Councillor Julian Dean. He told the audience that he has had to resign his role as Shropshire Green and Independent Group Leader on Shropshire Council in order to spend more time in his national party role as Senior Local Government Political Adviser, due to the number of defections to the Green Party.

Says Cllr Julian Dean:

‘Nationally, we’re seeing so many councillors from other parties, especially Labour, defecting to the Green Party that I’ve had to spend more time offering support to them. It really is a seismic shift, unlike anything I have ever seen in all my decades in the Green Party. There is a real sense that a brighter, green future is possible and that message of hope is proving infectious. If that resonates with you, come and join us.’