Ellie Chowns is the Green Party MP for North Herefordshire, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Chowns won 21,736 votes, representing 43.2% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Sir Bill Wiggin, received 15,842 votes (31.5%), while the Reform UK candidate, Andrew Dye, secured 8,048 votes (16.0%). Chowns was duly elected with a majority of 5,894.

The North Herefordshire constituency was created in 2010 and held continuously by the Conservative Party until 2024.

Chowns’ immediate predecessor as the MP for North Herefordshire was Sir Bill Wiggin of the Conservative Party. Her election was one of two Green victories in traditional Conservative territory recorded in 2024.

Political Career

Chowns serves as the Green Party Westminster leader (since September 2025).

Chowns is also the Green Party spokesperson for foreign affairs, social care, housing, communities and local government, business and trade, defence and education (all since September 2024).

Chowns stood in the 2025 Green Party leadership election as part of a joint-ticket alongside fellow MP Adrian Ramsay. The contest came after Carla Denyer, the Green co-leader since October 2021 alongside Ramsay, chose to stand down.

Chowns and Ramsay were pitted against the party’s deputy leader, Zack Polanski, a member of the London Assembly. Polanski’s “eco-populist” platform was popular with the party membership. Chowns and Ramsay argued that the Greens would not be able to “outshout” Reform with populist-style messaging.

During the campaign, Chowns commented: “We’re not here to hold signs. We’re here to hold power.”

In the end, Polanski secured 20,411 votes (84.1%) among the Green membership. Chowns and Ramsay secured 3,705 votes (15.3%).

Chowns was subsequently elected as the Green Party’s leader in the House of Commons by her fellow MPs.

Upon her election, Chowns said: “I’m honoured to take on this role on behalf of the Green MPs. I look forward to continuing to work with all my excellent colleagues in Parliament and the newly elected Green Party leadership team to hold the government to account, advance Green policies, and represent the concerns of our constituents.”

Chowns has called for wide-ranging reform of parliamentary procedure.

Addressing the commons in July 2024, Chowns said she thought it was “extraordinary” that the House of Commons did not have electronic voting.

She stated: “It’s extraordinary to me that we do not have electronic voting… While I’ve been here, I’ve participated in five votes and that’s taken at least an hour and a quarter.

“If you add up each of those votes, it adds up to basically a month’s worth of MP time.”

Chowns estimates that an hour of 650 MPs’ time walking round in circles costs the taxpayer over £30,000. In a piece for Politics.co.uk, published in October 2024, she wrote: “If we assume that MPs do an average of 4 votes per week, that translates into half a day every month wasted walking round in circles, and a total cost of over £1.3 million per year.”

In November 2025, Chowns was one of 34 cross-party MPs and peers who signed a letter to Ofcom demanding an investigation into the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The letter, led by Joani Reid, chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on antisemitism, called on the regulator to determine whether the platform was in breach of its legal duties under the Online Safety Act following a reported surge in antisemitic content and calls for violence against Jews on X.

Chowns has served as a member of the House of Commons environmental audit committee (2024-2025).

Chowns is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Europe, fair elections, human rights and water pollution.

Chowns delivered her maiden speech on July 18 2024 during a debate on foreign affairs and defence.

In it, she said: “I believe in the politics of co-operation. I believe we can do more if we work together, rather than against each other. I believe we can do more if we focus on our areas of common ground, rather than our disagreements, and I know that people in my constituency and across the country want to see a better sort of politics.

“That is why I am a passionate supporter of a fair voting system in which everyone’s vote counts equally.”

Chowns previously served as a Green Party member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands region from July 2019 until the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in January 2020.

Chowns unsuccessfully contested the North Herefordshire constituency at the 2017 and 2019 general elections, placing fourth on both occasions.

Chowns was also a Green Party councillor on Herefordshire Council from 2017 to 2024.

Political views

The Greens are an environmentalist and progressive political party positioned on the left of British politics.

The party’s foundational ideological beliefs are set out in its official core values and “philosophical basis”. This latter document outlines the aims and beliefs of the party, providing the basis on which all its policies are agreed.

The opening to the Green Party’s philosophical basis states: “A system based on inequality and exploitation is threatening the future of the planet on which we depend, and encouraging reckless and environmentally damaging consumerism.

“A world based on cooperation and democracy would prioritise the many, not the few, and would not risk the planet’s future with environmental destruction and unsustainable consumption.”

The Greens’ 10-point statement of core values commits the party to “social and environmental justice, which supports a radical transformation of society for the benefit of all, and for the planet as a whole.”

The party’s 2024 general election manifesto, branded with the slogan “Real hope. Real change”, focused heavily on the cost of living and affordability.

Chowns is listed as one of activist group Green New Deal Rising’s “cross-party green new deal champions”. GNDR is a progressive campaign organisation which promotes rapid decarbonisation and the transformation of the UK economy with a “Green New Deal” – a long-term plan to tackle climate change with large-scale public investment in renewable energy, green infrastructure and public services.

Chowns is a vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

In May 2026, Chowns signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system.

At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

In December 2024, Chowns voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Brexit and Europe

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Chowns voted in favour of the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the 10-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union. In total, 13 Labour MPs joined the Liberal Democrats in supporting the motion, while the majority of the party abstained.

Welfare

Winter fuel payment EDM: In September 2024, Chowns signed an early day motion (EDM) expressing concern over the government’s proposed changes to the winter fuel payment. The motion called on the government to “postpone the ending of winter fuel payments and establish a comprehensive strategy to tackle fuel poverty, health inequality and low incomes among older people.”

Assisted dying

Chowns voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Chowns voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Lying amendment: In January 2026, Chowns was listed as a supporter of an amendment to the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, often referred to as the “Hillsborough Law”, that would extend the proposed criminal offence of misleading the public to include MPs and peers. Luke Myer, the Labour MP behind the proposal, argued that his amendment would mean “no-one in parliament would be above the law”, adding: “If politicians deliberately lie to the public, there should be consequences.”

Myer stated: “This amendment is a proportionate, carefully safeguarded response to a real democratic risk. It is not about stifling debate or political disagreement, it is about ensuring that those who seek or hold public office cannot deliberately and knowingly mislead the public without consequence.

“The polling shows that voters across the political spectrum expect parliament to act.”

Myer’s amendment won the support of 30 cross-party MPs.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Chowns was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Palestine Action vote: Also in July 2025, Chowns was one of 26 MPs to vote against the proscription of Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000. The ban, passed by 385 votes to 26, came after the Home Office accused the group of “aggressive and intimidatory attacks against businesses, institutions and the public”. However, civil liberties organisations argued proscription represented an overreach of state power and a threat to the right to protest.

Before Politics

Born Eleanor Elizabeth Chowns on 7 March 1975 in Chertsey, Surrey, her parents later moved to Ledbury, Herefordshire.

She studied geography, environmental studies, and development studies at the University of Sussex, graduating in 1997, before undertaking a master’s degree in sustainable development at the University of Middlesex.

In 2014, Chowns completed a PhD in international development at the University of Birmingham.

Chowns has worked for charities including Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), Christian Aid and Friends of the Earth.

Chowns first got involved in politics in 2015.

Personal Life

Chowns lives on a mixed organic farm in North Herefordshire. She has two sons.

Her father, Stephen Chowns, was elected mayor of Ledbury Town Council in 2024.

Trivia

Chowns is the first Green Party MP elected in the West Midlands region.