Leeds’ Mothin Ali elected Green Party joint deputy leader

A Leeds councillor has been elected joint deputy leader of the Green Party.

Mothin Ali, who represents the Gipton and Harehills ward on Leeds City Council, was confirmed in the post alongside Rachel Millward, co-leader of Wealden District Council in Sussex, on Tuesday.

Ali became a councillor in May 2024 and immediately hit the headlines for his victory speech, labelling his election a “win for the people of Gaza” before shouting “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is the greatest” in Arabic. He later apologised for “any upset” caused.

Speaking following Tuesday’s announcement, Ali said he wanted a “fairer Britain”, adding: “This country is just not working. We have got to make serious change.”

Describing his ward as “one of the most deprived areas in the country”, Ali said: “I get phone calls regularly from people who can’t feed their children, who can’t heat their homes, who can’t pay their bills.”

He also called on “minority groups” to “come together and make sure we are ready together to challenge Reform and the rise of the far right”.

Ali previously told the BBC he wanted to bring a “working class, northern voice” to the Green Party, which he said for a long time had held “a very middle class view”.

There were “a lot of lessons” from his ward, where he had lived since 2000, “that we can translate nationally”, he said.

Community divisions within Harehills were exposed in the aftermath of disorder there last summer, with Ali winning praise for his role as peacemaker.

Ali, a self-employed accountant, had pledged not “to leave my community behind” if elected.

“The community is so important to me that I practically destroyed my own business to work for the community.

“But I have got that heart to spread some of the knowledge that I have from my areas to other areas.”

Zack Polanski was also elected as the new leader of the Green Party on Tuesday.