Labour’s alarmed by the Green surge? So am I.
Spare a thought for Keir Starmer; he seems to have been so busy fighting a monster on the right, in the form of Nigel Farage, that he hasn’t noticed another deadly enemy emerging on the left. At least, that’s the concern expressed by some Labour MPs alarmed by the rise of the Greens and, specifically, by the number of former Labour voters attracted to the resurgent far-left party.
There’s no denying that the Green Party’s new leader, Zack Polanksi, has made an impact since winning the leadership last month on a platform of “eco-populism.” Their party membership has grown to 126,000 – more than the Conservatives – aided by Polanski’s outing with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday morning, which lured in another 1,000 members.
There was a time when the Greens stuck firmly to their lane; yes, they ticked all the typical ultra progressive boxes on political issues but they were firmly known as the political wing of the environmental movement. Now, while the traditional standard-bearer of the loony-left, Jeremy Corbyn, struggles to control his own fledgling party it’s the Greens that shout loudest about the cost of living, the need for “a new politics” and radicalism plus, of course, the urgent necessity of taxing the rich.
Greens neck and neck with Labour
While the recent story of UK politics has been the seemingly unstoppable rise of Reform, under Polanski the Greens hit 15 per cent in a recent poll, level pegging with Labour. Little wonder, then, that reports over the weekend suggest panic in Labour ranks. One party official told The Times: “We are haemorrhaging far more votes to the left than we are to the right but Downing Street is doing nothing about it,” adding that Number Ten “is just totally obsessed with Reform.”
The Times reports that 15 per cent of people who voted Labour in 2024 would now vote for Polanski’s party, a larger percentage than those who said they’d switch their vote to Reform.
It looks as if Starmer does indeed have to start worrying about the Greens, but so should the rest of us. Polanski has made a wealth tax the central part of his pitch, and with admirable candour he’s conceded that it isn’t even about raising money (because it won’t) – it’s about “reducing inequality.”
For the crazy Greens, fewer millionaires is not just a means to an end but an end in itself.