Labour have been 'crushing disappointment', say Greens at local elections campaign launch

Co-leader Carla Denyer said the country was looking for "positive change" but that was not being offered by the government - "and with every day, it's looking less and less likely that it will".

Ms Denyer, who won the seat of Bristol Central from Labour for the first time in last year's general election, criticised recent policies including the cut to the winter fuel allowance, maintaining the two-child benefit cap and the £5bn reduction in the benefits bill.

Labour have admitted the policies are unpopular but have defended them as necessary in light of a turbulent economic landscape, which saw Donald Trump impose blanket 10% tariffs on all imports to the US as well as a 25% levy on car imports.

Ms Denyer admitted to Sky News that it was because of Brexit that the UK had only been slapped with a 10% tariff rather than the 20% that has been imposed on EU nations.

However, she said the policy was proof that the UK should focus its attention on our "closest allies" in the EU.

Appealing to disaffected Labour voters, she said the party was now "making choices that increase poverty, making things so much worse for so many people and burdening councils with an ever-increasing demand on services, on only a fraction of the financial support that they need".

Her criticism was echoed by co-leader Adrian Ramsay, the MP for Waveney Valley, who said Labour have had "nine months to prove themselves and yet they have failed at every turn".

"We, like so many others, were hoping that the change in government would make things better after so many years of the Conservatives' cruel and short-sighted cuts to our public services," he said.

"We have said all along that we will congratulate Labour and support them where we think they are heading in the right direction - and will push them and call on them to be more ambitious where we think they are getting it wrong.

"Needless to say, we've done less congratulating than we would have liked since they came into government".

The Greens unveiled its local election pitch in Warwickshire - where they form the largest party on Warwick District Council.

The party is also hoping to make gains in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, East Hertfordshire and Lancaster, as well as Devon and Oxfordshire. Derbyshire, North Northamptonshire and Leicestershire are also target areas for the Greens.

Other parties are also campaigning ahead of the local elections, which take place on 1 May.

The Green Party, which now has four MPs in parliament, is hoping to pick up more council seats in the ballot, which will be held for 23 councils and six mayoralties in England.

The party currently has more than 800 councillors in 170 councils across England and Wales.

The May ballot will be the first electoral test for all the political parties since the general election, which saw Labour win a landslide victory while the Tories were reduced to just 121 MPs.

The election last July also saw the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform Party and saw him win a seat in parliament for the first time after seven previous attempts to enter Westminster.

Ms Denyer also turned her fire on Reform UK, accusing it of using "the politics of fear to divide our communities" and wanting to privatise the NHS.

Mr Farage has denied wanting to make people pay to visit the doctor but said Britain should "re-examine" how it funds the NHS, including by considering a "'French-style" insurance system.

At Labour's campaign launch last week, Sir Keir Starmer promoted his record on the NHS, saying the government had delivered two million extra hospital appointments within its first few months in office.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have warned that "almost every" council the party won in 2021 could be lost in this year's local elections.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch warned party members: "It will be the first time since the general election, the greatest defeat in all parties' history, that we fight these seats."

-SKY NEWS