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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
National
Yvonne Deeney

Vogue names Bristol councillor alongside Victoria Beckham and Queen as 'most influential women'

Green Party councillor Carla Denyer has been featured among big names such as Victoria Beckham and Queen Elizabeth II on this year’s British Vogue 25. The list is produced by Vogue every year celebrating the 'most influential women in Britain'.

Cllr Denyer, who has been a Bristol city councillor since 2015 for Clifton Down (formerly Clifton East), was elected as the co-leader for the Green Party in 2021. She is credited with putting forward the motion that made Bristol the first city in the UK to declare a climate emergency.

Despite losing to Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire in the 2019 general election, her ambitions to be an MP for Bristol West remain. She will be hoping to knock Debbonaire off the spot in the 2024 general election.

READ MORE: Carla Denyer: 'There is a very good chance of getting a Green MP elected'

In Vogue she is recognised for her role as Green Party co-leader in May’s local elections, when the party celebrated record-breaking results. They saw the highest percentage increase than any other party in England and Wales with a net gain of more than 70 seats.

In Bristol’s local elections held in 2021, the Greens made huge gains across the city, gaining councillors in wards previously held by Labour. The party now holds 24 of the 70 seats in Bristol City Council, which is joint highest alongside Labour which also has 24.

Although the Greens continue to have only one Member of Parliament in Caroline Lucas, Bristol West has been one of their target seats since 2015. Despite Ms Debbonaire gaining 62 per cent of the vote in the last General Election, runner-up Carla Denyer received more votes in 2019 in Bristol West for the Greens than they had in any previous elections.

The Green Party's first ever MP Caroline Lucas on the roof of We The Curious during a visit to Bristol to see Bristol West candidate Carla Denyer (Dan Regan/BristolLive)

The 36-year-old, who joined the Green Party 10 years ago as a result of her involvement in the campaign against a new Tesco opening on Stokes Croft, told Bristol Live last month that she was hopeful about getting elected in Bristol West in 2024. Ms Denyer said: "I think Bristol is quite a swingy area in terms of politics and a lot has changed since 2019.

"There is a very good chance of getting a Green MP elected here." She has also recently been a vocal critic of the mayoral system, stating that it gives one person 'almost total control' and works "very well for those who have the mayor's ear but not the rest of us.'

In response to being listed at one of Vogue's 25 most influential women, Ms Denyer tweeted that she was 'blown off [her] feet' and 'honoured' to be listed 'alongside such amazing women as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, [Sharon Graham] and Emma Thompson.'

In its August 2022 edition, Vogue stated: "At May’s local elections, the Green Party – co-led in England and Wales by 36-year-old Carla Denyer, who was appointed to the role alongside Adrian Ramsay – celebrated record-breaking results, taking seats from all three major parties. There may still be a way to go before it replicates this success in parliament, but as the party’s representation spreads across the country there is no question its policies and messaging are resonating more keenly than ever, nor any doubt that foundations have been laid for more Green MPs come 2024."

She is featured alongside big names like Victoria Beckham who is celebrated for her role as a fashion designer and The Queen who is listed for having spent 70 years on the throne.

Others celebrated on the list include Sharon Graham, for being the first female General Secretary of Unite, the biggest UK Trade Union, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who was reunited with her family in March after being detained in Iran for six years, and Jebina Yasmin Islam for raising awareness on violence against women following the tragic murder of her sister, Sabina Nessa. You can view the full list here.

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