Mothin Ali elected co-deputy leader of the Green party
Leeds councillor who made national headlines last year becomes the only Muslim in England and Wales in mainstream political party leadership role
Mothin Ali, the Leeds councillor who was filmed attempting to break up the 2024 Harehills riots, has been elected as co-deputy leader of the Green party.
Ali, who won 33.5% of first-preference votes for the deputy leader position, becomes the only Muslim serving as a leader or deputy leader of a mainstream political party in England and Wales. He will serve alongside Rachel Millward, who won 22.8% of first-preference votes and was the last candidate standing after an 11-stage process.
Speaking at the count, Ali thanked staff and supporters. “This is a huge honour,” he said. “As a Muslim, we have this concept of amanah — trust — and this is that people who have voted for me have put in me.”
Ali added that the country faced a “precipice” in its politics. “There’s a huge rise in the far right. Minority communities, whether it’s Muslims, immigrants, or the LGBT community, are being targeted. Our fight is one. We’ve got to come together and make sure we’re ready to challenge Reform and the far right.”
The deputy leadership election ran alongside the party’s leadership contest, in which Zack Polanski was elected leader. Ali said he hoped to work closely with Polanski and Millward to deliver change.
“We’ve got to take the fight to Labour,” he said. “We’ve got to make serious change and give people real hope and unity.”
Ali launched his campaign in early June, positioning himself as a challenger to the Greens’ “middle-class”, “southern-focused” image. His platform called for working-class inclusion, the renationalisation of key services and better representation of diverse northern communities.
Ali was first elected as a Green party councillor for Gipton and Harehills in May 2024, entering office following an earlier unsuccessful run in 2022. His ward is one of Yorkshire’s most diverse and deprived areas, where around 40% of the population identifies as Muslim.
He attracted national attention twice within months of his election. The Green party said in May 2024 that it would investigate comments made by Ali in support of Gaza on social media and during his acceptance speech. He subsequently apologised for any upset caused, but hit back at what he called Islamophobic criticism of his use of the words “Allahu Akbar” (“God is most great”), which are commonly used as an expression of faith and thanksgiving.
Then, when riots broke out in Harehills in July 2024, Ali physically stepped into the midst of the disorder and attempted to calm the situation — for which he was initially, wrongly, branded a rioter by the far right.
Ali was the only deputy leadership candidate who failed to sign a pledge supporting the rights of LGBTQ+ people during the election campaign, and he did not attend a hustings organised by the Greens’ LGBTQIA+ chapter. He said in a public statement that he had chosen not to sign any pledges from “special interest” groups as he believed doing so could undermine the party’s internal democratic processes, but that it did not mean he did not support their causes.
Speaking to Hyphen in June, Ali said Labour had taken working-class people for granted. “The Greens are full of people who genuinely care, who are empathetic,” he said. “We can give people who feel politically homeless a real alternative.”
