Notes
- 1 2 The Liberal Democrats and Green Party run the council in a coalition, in which Millward and the Liberal Democrat James Partridge swap leader and deputy roles every year in a de facto co-leadership. [1] [2]
Rachel Millward | |
|---|---|
| Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales | |
| Assumed office 2 September 2025 Servingwith Mothin Ali | |
| Leader | Zack Polanski |
| Preceded by | Zack Polanski |
| Deputy Leader of Wealden District Council [a] | |
| Assumed office 14 May 2025 ServingwithJames Partridge | |
| In office 24 May 2023 –15 May 2024 ServingwithJames Partridge | |
| Preceded by | Philip Lunn |
| Leader of Wealden District Council [a] | |
| In office 15 May 2024 –14 May 2025 ServingwithJames Partridge | |
| Preceded by | Ann Newton |
| Wealden District Councillor for Hartfield | |
| Assumed office 2 December 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Chris Hardy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rachel Hannah Millward January 1977 (age 48) West Midlands,England |
| Political party | Green Party of England and Wales |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA) African Gender Institute (MA) |
Rachel Hannah Millward (born January 1977) is a British politician currently serving as Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales since September 2025,alongside Mothin Ali. [3] She has also served as the Wealden District Councillor for Hartfield since 2021 and co-leader of the council since 2023. [4]
Millward was born in January 1977 in the West Midlands. [5] [6] She graduated with a bachelor's degree in theology from the University of Oxford in 1999 before completing a master's programme in gender and development from the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town in 2001. [7] [8]
Millward initially worked as a researcher for independent film and television productions. [8] She then founded the Birds Eye View film festival with Pinny Grylls in 2002 to showcase films made by women. [8] [9] Millward served as the festival's director until 2014,and the festival has since evolved into the charity Reclaim the Frame. [10] In August 2006,Millward was nominated as a "world changing woman" by The Guardian for her work with Birds Eye View. [11] In 2009,she was awarded a fellowship by the Clore Duffield Foundation as part of their leadership programme and was nominated in the media category at the Women of the Future awards. [12] [13] From 2014 to 2016,Millward was the arts director at The Old Church in Stoke Newington. [7] [14] She then served as an executive director at Sam Lee's Nest Collective from 2016 to 2020. [7]
Millward ran as the Green Party candidate in the 2021 by-election for the Hartfield seat on Wealden District Council,following the death of councillor Chris Hardy. [15] She won the seat by 122 votes against the Conservative Party candidate Bruce Rainbow,gaining the seat from the Conservatives. [16] Millward retained her seat in the 2023 Wealden District Council election,with an increased majority of 318. [17] She was appointed joint-leader of the council in May 2023 alongside the Liberal Democrat councillor James Partridge,as part of a coalition agreement between the two parties. [18] [19] [20]
In July 2023,Millward was selected as the Green Party's prospective candidate for the constituency of Sussex Weald,but withdrew in May 2024 over concerns about being both a parliamentary candidate and leader of the council. [1] [21] In June 2025,Millward announced her candidacy for the Green Party deputy leadership election. [22] Due to Zack Polanski winning the leadership election,Millward and Mothin Ali were elected as joint–deputy leaders,as the Green Party constitution stipulates that if there is a singular leader,there must be two deputy leaders. [3] [23]
Millward lives in Hartfield in East Sussex with her husband and two children. [15] Her eldest daughter was born on the opening day of the 2010 Birds Eye View film festival. [8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green | Rachel Millward | 774 | 62.9 | +19.8 | |
| Conservative | Janie Robinson | 456 | 37.1 | −19.8 | |
| Majority | 318 | 25.8 | |||
| Turnout | 1,230 | 43.2 | +7.4 | ||
| Green hold | Swing | +19.8 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green | Rachel Millward | 589 | 55.8 | +12.7 | |
| Conservative | Bruce Rainbow | 467 | 44.2 | −12.7 | |
| Majority | 122 | 11.6 | |||
| Turnout | 1,056 | ||||
| Green gain from Conservative | Swing | +25.4 | |||
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
| Green | Mothin Ali | 33.51% | 5,366 | 5,337.67 | ||||||
| Green | Rachel Millward | 22.83% | 3,656 | 3,665.36 | 3,685.42 | 3,712.56 | 3,854.01 | 4,260.24 | 5,003.24 | |
| Green | Frank Adlington-Stringer | 16.03% | 2,567 | 2,570.82 | 2,583.84 | 2,618.02 | 2,839.60 | 3,274.42 | 3,642.42 | |
| Green | Antoinette Fernandez | 9.09% | 1,455 | 1,460.96 | 1,480.01 | 1,516.10 | 1,683.86 | 1,997.67 | 7.67 | |
| Green | Ani Townsend | 8.46% | 1,355 | 1,358.43 | 1,368.47 | 1,397.58 | 1,654.18 | 0 | ||
| Green | Alex Mace | 3.43% | 549 | 550.41 | 557.43 | 575.51 | 0 | |||
| Green | Ashley Routh | 3.28% | 526 | 527.70 | 535.73 | 549.80 | 0 | |||
| Green | Thomas Daw | 1.52% | 243 | 243.87 | 251.87 | 0 | ||||
| Green | Chas Warlow | 1.00% | 160 | 160.30 | 0 | |||||
| Re-open nominations | 0.86% | 136 | 137.44 | 145.47 | 148.50 | 166.65 | 222.86 | 287.86 | ||
| Exhausted votes | 0 | 0.99 | 67.05 | 157.21 | 476.99 | 920.12 | 1734.12 | |||
| Valid: 16,013 Quota: 5,337.67 Turnout: 16,013 | ||||||||||
