Alice was succeeded in early 2017 by Grenville Ham. Grenville defected to Plaid Cymru in late 2018 citing the party's vote to remain a part of the Green Party of England and Wales rather than to become an independent party (as the Scottish Green Party had previously done) as his reason. Like Alice, Grenville described his position as "untenable". Mirka Virtanen was elected deputy leader in 2016 to begin in 2017, replacing Pippa Bartolotti, and Benjamin Smith was co-opted to the vacant deputy leader role in July 2017.