Geraldine Coggins announced as Green Party candidate for Mayor

The Green Party has announced that Geraldine Coggins will be on the ballot paper on the 30th July as their candidate for Greater Manchester Mayor

Leader of the Green Party, Zack Polanski, announced the candidate today (Saturday, 20 June 2026) in a rally in Manchester following a morning of campaigning. This makes the Green Party the first party to announce its Candidate.

In the rally, Coggins (current leader of the Greens on Trafford Council) said her main priority is to address the inequality across Greater Manchester, saying, "I'm worried about the inequality [..] where sometimes the outer boroughs have been left behind"

Geraldine Coggins speaking to Green Party Members in Manchester after being announced as the candidate. Photo: Alfie Garner/Roch Valley Radio

As a member of the Green Party, Coggins also hopes to put Climate Policy at the top of the agenda for this election: "I will be putting the climate and nature emergency at the heart of everything we do."

Coggins also recognised the work done by Former Mayor Andy Burnham to improve the region's public transport offering and wishes to expand on this further, should she be elected. She stated she wanted to deliver "the world-class transport system that our city region deserves".

Both the candidate and Polanski criticised the housing offering in the region, highlighting the number of Skyscrapers in the city centre and the stark contrast to the number of families living in Temporary Accomodation. Zack, however, hopes that Coggins is the one for the job to tackle this, "I think she's been preparing for this. And she has a plan"

Geraldine Coggins and Zack Polanski. Photo: Alfie Garner/Roch Valley Radio

Polanski also addressed the recent loss in the Makerfield By-Election, stating that it was Andy Burnham's to lose but acknowledging why he thought Burnham ran in the first place: "I think everyone and their cat knew that Andy Burnham was running to be the leader of the Labour Party." 

Zack hopes that this election will follow in the success of the Gorton and Denton By-Election, when Hannah Spencer won for the Greens against the Labour and Reform Candidates. He thinks the campaign will have many characteristics of the By-Election campaign. 

Roch Valley Radio will be covering the whole election. Check out our one-stop shop on the election.

Listen to a clip of our interview with Zach Polanski.

Listen to a clip of our interview with the candidate, Geraldine Coggins.