The Green Party has announced that its candidate in the Greater Manchester mayor by-election will be Geraldine Coggins:
At the @TheGreenParty launch of their campaign for the Greater Manchester mayoral election, our reporter @cjmbaillie was one of the first to speak to their candidate Geraldine Coggins – and she's immediately showing why she's the right choice to vote for on 30 July
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— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) June 20, 2026
In the clip above, Coggins says that she wants to address the inequality between Manchester city centre and the outer boroughs. And in her announcement speech, she also discussed her fears about what could happen if Reform win.
Diverse Manchester
Coggins’ speech began:
I’m Geraldine, and as you can probably tell from my accent, I’m originally from Ireland, and like a lot of people who have come here from Ireland – from elsewhere – I have made Greater Manchester my home.
Our city region is a place that welcomes newcomers. We embrace them, we learn from them, we teach them, and we move from being strangers to being friends and neighbours. We’re all different here, and that is something we can celebrate. But we all have something in common, and that is this city region that we all call home.
In less than six weeks, it is absolutely possible that our city region will be celebrating electing our first ever Green Mayor. It’s just a few weeks since people across a really wide range of areas in Greater Manchester elected Green Party councillors in unprecedented numbers, putting their trust in our message of hope and unity.
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And it is just a few months since my Trafford colleague Hannah Spencer won big in Gorton and Denton, serving people in our city region as the first Green Party MP in the North.
I know a lot of you here were part of making this happen, am I right? And we are going to need teamwork on a scale that we have never seen before. Because, like Gorton and Denton, this is an election that we – can – win.
Hope versus hate
A key theme in Coggins speech was the difference between what the Greens can achieve and what Reform will inflict:
And like Gorton and Denton, this is going to be a straight race between the Green Party with our message of joy and hope, and the toxic, divisive politics of Reform. We know from the recent local elections that it was us and Reform winning seats across the board, and Labour losing on an existential scale.
When we campaign hard, we win. And this time round, we are going to massively expand our campaigning to finish the job. Because we all know that a Reform mayor would be a disaster for Greater Manchester. Can you imagine a Reform mayor making decisions on housing and transport that affect all of our daily lives? Can you imagine a Reform mayor making decisions about health and social care that affect vulnerable people?
It terrifies me to think of them making decisions that will affect millions of people across our city region. And it is down to us to make sure that does not happen.
Green Party — Kicking out the establishment
Coggins also criticised Labour, saying:
And as for Labour, we are having this election because of their leadership failure and their internal psychodrama. We know that that Makerfield result is actually a damning indictment of everything our Labour government has done.
People have been asking me why I’ve put myself forward for this, and I want to tell you a story about a chat I had with a good friend about a year or two back… we went for a big long walk, and we had one of those long chats where you put the world to rights, and we talked about our worries – about what’s happening in our country, and in our world; our worries about our children and future generations. And towards the end, she said something like ‘I’m sure they’ll sort it out’. That really triggered something in me, and I thought ‘who are they?’
The establishment has no solutions to offer. In fact, they are the ones who have got us into this situation. There are no grown-ups out there who are coming to fix this, and it is up to all of us to make this happen.
We will take power back for normal people.
Experience
Coggins is a veteran Green Party politician, having served on Trafford Council since 2018. She was actually one of the Greens’ first councillors in the area, and serves as the Leader of the Green Party group on the council. Speaking on her experience, Coggins said:
As a councillor, I’ve spent the last eight years on Trafford Council fighting Tory austerity and now Labour austerity. And I have seen first hand the effects on our residents – and our environment – of our broken public services. But I have a vision of the better world that is around the corner.
We know that things don’t have to be like this. We do not have to accept the status quo. And that is what gives us hope. And Greater Manchester, it needs hope. It needs hope and real change. No more tinkering at the edges.
Green Party to take back Manchester
Coggins spoke more about the inequality in Manchester and what can be done about it:
Too many people and places have been left behind, and we need to end our massive inequality. As your Green Mayor, I will prioritise people and planet over profits. I will work for those who are struggling to make ends meet and to get our high streets buzzing again. I will push back on a broken housing system that’s designed to maximise profits instead of giving people the homes they need. I will go further and faster to get us the world class transport system that we deserve here, and one that works for all our boroughs, not just for the centre.
And I will fight for an economy that works for ordinary people; not the super rich. I will fight and work to make this a city that celebrates our diversity and one where we all live as neighbours and friends.
And you know, a Green Mayor of Greater Manchester, it will make a difference to our whole country. It will set yet another precedent for Greens winning big and making change. It will send a very powerful message to Labour in Westminster. And that Green voice will exert a lot of power on whoever is next on the prime minister merry-go-round.
“Together”
In closing, Coggins spoke about the environment and what people can achieve working together:
Meanwhile, our planet is on fire. We are living through one of the greatest mass extinction events ever. This planet, it’s our home and it is our life system. And as the first Green mayor of Greater Manchester, I will be protecting our world and our communities at the heart of everything we do.
As an experienced councillor, I’ve got the track record; I’ve got the knowledge, the skills, the training to take this step. I know the challenges ahead, and I am prepared. We can all imagine the cleaner, greener, more equal world that we all hope for. And in the next five weeks and five days, we are going to work together to do everything we can to turn that hope into a reality.
Let’s go on this journey together. I’m ready to lead.
Coggins told the Canary’s Cameron Baillie that the Greens have a soon-to-be-released manifesto which will address how they plan to tackle inequality in Greater Manchester. We look forward to reading it, but not as much as we look forward to them implementing it.
Featured image via Cameron Baillie
By Willem Moore
