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With a General Election set for 4th July, Labour is on course to form the next government. If early indications of a Labour resurgence in Scotland are representative, they will likely win a healthy majority. And yet, it’s clear that any Labour government led by Keir Starmer will at best be a placeholder until the Tories piece themselves back together. The Labour Party is adrift in a sea of broken promises before it has even taken office, with little left to offer but vague platitudes about growth and fiscal rules, plus the odd crumb of technocratic tinkering, while pandering to the Right-Wing press.
Since the ignominious departure of Boris Johnson from Downing Street, Starmer has arguably taken up the mantle of the most dishonest individual in front-line British politics. Among his many betrayals are abandoning the renationalisation of energy, Royal Mail and water; scrapping his promise to scrap tuition fees; dumping his commitment to raising taxes on the rich; ditching plans for £28bn a year of climate-related investment; weaselling out of the promise to approve no new domestic oil and gas licences.
Labour’s response to Israel’s military assault upon Gaza – which according to the International Criminal Court plausibly amounts to genocide – has been sickening in its moral complicity. Likewise, Starmer’s welcoming of far-Right Tory defectors jumping ship to save their careers, even while Dianne Abbott has remained suspended for over a year, has also betrayed a total lack of core beliefs or sense of justice on his part – all rather ironic for a former head of the CPS.
Given these and other failings, many on the Left will be looking with interest towards The Green Party.
To reiterate, Labour is going to win the election; the Tories would virtually have to violate the second law of thermodynamics to get back into government, so we’re free to vote with our conscience. Nevertheless, those in marginal seats where the Tories are still competitive may wish to
think more cautiously. And of course, those with a decent Labour candidate have little need to look elsewhere. But nationally, the Green Party (and I’m focusing here on the Green Party of England and Wales) currently looks like the most attractive option to many yearning for progressive change and wishing to hold the next Labour government to account.
So far, Green commitments include a plan for £250bn of investment in grants and low interest loans for home insulation, more generous than Labour’s similar scheme, as well as a commitment to universal free school meals for primary and secondary students (Starmer has ruled this out even just for primary schools). Another aim is improving bus services, introducing a £1 single fare on all routes and free travel for those under 22, funded by carbon taxes and from cancelling national road building plans.
Unlike Labour, Greens supported recent waves of industrial action, joining picket lines and committing to inflation-matching public sector pay rises. They have consistently called out Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, and supported calls for a ceasefire and the ending of UK arms sales to Israel.
The Green Party is thus seeking to attract voters frustrated by Labour’s lack of vision, and are targeting at least four seats for the next election, including Brighton Pavilion, which they are hoping to hold with Sian Berry after current Green MP Caroline Lucas steps down.
By appealing to the large and growing swathe of progressive voters disillusioned with Labour, the Greens could make for an effective thorn in the side of Keir Starmer and – especially if they win seats in parliament – press him to implement progressive policies or risk further losing support. The obvious blueprint for such a strategy comes from the other end of the political spectrum, under the nauseating yellow and purple rosette of UKIP.
Under the leadership of Nigel Farage UKIP was, whatever else we might say, an incredibly successful political force. Virtually unheard of until the mid-2000s, for the next decade it nipped away at the Tory base on immigration and Europe until, during the coalition government, it had them over a barrel. It was arguably down to UKIP that the 2015 election became an immigration election, and they forced the promise of an EU referendum from David Cameron. As such, they helped achieve more dramatic change to this country than most politicians dare to dream of, without even winning seats at a General Election (UKIP’s two short-lived MPs were former Tories who won byelections).
Given that the Greens have grown over the decades from the ground up, are already well represented in many local councils, have held Brighton Pavilion for 14 years and have real prospects at winning multiple new seats at the upcoming election, they‘re in a strong position to exert similar pressure on Labour. If Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer unseats Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire in Bristol Central, for example, she would serve as a constant reminder that the Left won’t be taken for granted.
Of course, one asset that the Greens currently lack, in contrast to UKIP, is a Farage: a sensationalist, pint-swilling leadership figure who walks headfirst into controversy and can play the media like a fiddle. Nevertheless, with the structural advantages just mentioned, as well as a popular policy programme and the potential to capture a swathe of young first time voters, the Greens may succeed without this element.
Unlike UKIP’s strategy of turning one hitherto narrow and obscure issue into a central one, the Greens are ultimately making a more substantial offer to the public than are Labour. Unless Labour surprises everybody with a radical and visionary manifesto, then much of the wide progressive coalition it built under Jeremy Corbyn will see the Greens as a more appealing option in July, and with the current oblivion facing the Tories, they won’t have to worry about lesser evil voting. If the Greens can harness this support and take it to parliament and beyond, the next Labour government might be forced to actually make some positive change.
Related: Elevenses: The Young Ones
