Will Duckworth

For similarly named people, see William Duckworth.
Cllr
Will Duckworth
Deputy Leader of the Green Party of
England and Wales
In office
3 September 2012 – 1 September 2014
Leader Natalie Bennett
Preceded by Adrian Ramsay
Succeeded by Amelia Womack, Shahrar Ali
Dudley Borough Councillor for Netherton, Woodside & St. Andrew's Ward
Assumed office
3 May 2012
Preceded by John Davies
Personal details
Born (1954-01-20) 20 January 1954
Dudley, United Kingdom
Political party Green Party of England and Wales
Residence Dudley

Will Duckworth (born 20 January 1954) is a Green Party of England and Wales politician, and the party's former deputy leader. He has been the first Green Party councillor in the Black Country after he was elected to Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in 2012. He was elected as the party's second ever deputy leader on 3 September 2012 taking over from Adrian Ramsay. In September 2014, he lost the deputy leadership election with Amelia Womack and Shahrar Ali both becoming his successors.

He was also the West Midlands regional Green Party first choice candidate on the list for the 2014 European Parliament election.

Political career

Described by Derek Wall as "a true working class Black Country lad",[1] Duckworth joined the Green Party shortly before becoming a founder of the Dudley Greens in 2009. He became regional treasurer for the party, and stood unsuccessfully in Stourbridge at the 2010 UK general election.[2]

Duckworth first stood for the Greens in the Netherton, Woodside & St. Andrew's ward in Dudley in 2010, coming last (5th) receiving 168 votes (2.8%).[3] He stood again the following year after campaigning in the ward and received a much improved result coming second with 1,068 votes (28.0%). In 2012 he was elected with 1,525 votes (44.9%) taking the seat from the Conservative Party.[4] Duckworth claims he had completed over a thousand pieces of casework helping out local residents in the two years running up to the 2012 election.

Duckworth stood for Deputy Leader in the Green Party of England and Wales leadership election, 2012, on a joint platform with Romayne Phoenix, who contested the party leadership.[5] Although Phoenix was not elected, Duckworth beat Richard Mallender to become Deputy Leader.[6]

In early August 2012 Duckworth was selected as the lead candidate in the Green Party list for the 2014 European Parliament election in the West Midlands region, where his party finished in fifth place out of ten, with 5.3% of the vote.

In September 2014, Duckworth stood for election to the position of Deputy Leader again, but was unsuccessful. Due to a change in the Green Party's constitution the previous year, two new Deputy Leaders, Amelia Womack and Shahrar Ali, were elected.

Personal life

Duckworth lives in Dudley with his wife Vicky.

References

  1. ↑ Derek Wall, "Natalie Bennett has the ambition and nous to push the Green party forward", The Guardian, 3 September 2012
  2. ↑ "Will Duckworth, Green, Stourbridge", The Northern Echo
  3. ↑ http://www.dudley.gov.uk/council-democracy/democracy-elections/results-of-elections/local-election-2010/
  4. ↑ http://www.dudley.gov.uk/council-democracy/democracy-elections/2012-local-election-results/
  5. ↑ "Runners and riders: Green Party leadership", BBC News, 22 August 2012
  6. ↑ "New Leader and Deputy Leader announcement", GPEW, 3 September 2012
Party political offices
Preceded by
Adrian Ramsay		 Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales
2012–2014 		Succeeded by
Amelia Womack
Shahrar Ali
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