‘Labour must work with the Greens – or risk again splitting the progressive vote’

Despite a historic win in Selby, Labour couldn’t resist indulging in some characteristic self-flagellation over its ULEZ-induced defeat in Uxbridge. But amid all this, another party was busy celebrating a momentous result. Despite only coming a distant third in each seat, the Green Party hailed a “spectacularly good” performance. It increased its vote share across the board and gave its best ever showing at a by-election in Somerton and Frome, albeit with only 10.2% of the vote. Crucially, the Green vote in Uxbridge alone was larger than the Conservative majority.

Had Green voters been persuaded to back the Labour candidate instead, things could have been very different. For one thing, Labour might not be wavering over its environmental commitments and facing calls to ‘cut the green crap‘ on the basis of a couple of hundred votes.

Labour must take the Greens seriously

If this Green surge continues, it could be a worrying trend for Labour. The scale of any win at the next general election will depend on whether Greens and Liberal Democrats are willing to vote tactically, en masse, to help Labour beat the Conservatives.

On the whole, progressive voters are getting much better at making tactical decisions, as evidenced in the local election results this May. But some Green voters are seemingly less keen on lending their votes to other parties to help get them over the line. 

Many have expressed their frustration about what they see as the rightward drift of the Labour Party, and the Green Party hopes this will create an opening for them to emerge as a left-wing alternative.

Labour should take this seriously. The threat of an insurgent Green wave is dual-edged, with the party threatening to take both young, city-dwelling, left-leaning voters (in areas like Bristol) and the disillusioned Conservatives in the so-called ‘Blue Wall’ that Keir Starmer appears fixated on winning over at the next election (in areas like Mid Suffolk, where the Green Party won its first-ever council majority in May).

Labour will hope to squeeze the Green vote for all it’s worth at the next election, but with Starmer wavering on environmental commitments and downplaying calls for electoral reform, Green sceptics will ask, not unreasonably: what’s in it for us?

No guarantee Green voters will row behind Labour at the election

While Labour and the Liberal Democrats both benefit from tactical voting and campaigning arrangements, the Greens too often draw the short straw. This is partly because, unlike the other two progressive parties, they aren’t the best-placed challenger to the Tories in any constituency in England and Wales; the only two seats they came second in in 2019 are held by Labour. In the straitjacket of our winner-takes-all voting system, it’s incredibly difficult for smaller parties to make a dent – at least in terms of seats.

But the unlikelihood of major Commons success is no guarantee that Green voters will row behind Labour come election time. Some hope an insurgent Green wave could, as a letter to the Guardian last month said, ‘apply the UKIP effect to Labour’, referring to the way in which the Conservatives were dragged to the right by Nigel Farage and co. around the 2015 election. The letter read: “As with UKIP, and again under first past the post, the insurgents do not need to win any seats in the Commons to have a disruptive effect.” 

Our electoral system is clearly causing frustration – but so, too, is the uncooperative attitude of some in the Labour Party. Former Green MEP Molly Scott Cato wrote in Green World that Labour has “turned the idea of electoral cooperation into an anti-democratic attack on our right to stand candidates at all”.

She wrote: “Under first past the post, nothing makes sense except fighting to win… so this time, no quarter for alliances or deals or tactical voting. We need to fight for every seat. We must not give a single scrap of energy to the Labour bullies.”

Labour could prevent counterproductive progressive infighting

Of course, all of this adds up to the possibility that progressives will once again split the vote and, thanks to the distortions of our electoral system, leave us with a hung parliament – or even a Tory government. 

But things don’t have to be this way, and Labour could take action to prevent this counterproductive progressive infighting. As things stand, Labour HQ seems intent on crushing the Greens rather than embracing them. In recent months, it has stamped out coalition deals and expelled an ex-Green from the party.

But if Labour does win a majority at the next general election, it will likely be in no small part thanks to votes lent from Green Party supporters. Labour and the Liberal Democrats must more adequately recognise this support to make tactical voting arrangements as successful as they can be.

In 2017, this happened to some effect thanks to the Progressive Alliance campaign; Clive Lewis, among others, acknowledged the “crucial role” tactical voters played in his victory. But this could and should extend further than a mere ‘thank you’. Labour could commit to taking on Green Party policies such as trialling a universal basic income, introducing a frequent flyer levy or bringing in a carbon tax. 

A commitment to electoral reform would be a key step

For some, a vote for the Greens may now be seen as a vote against the two-party duopoly, almost as much against Labour as against the Tories; both represent a system that prevents the party getting the representation its popular support merits. A commitment to reforming our electoral system would go a long way in putting this right, giving voters a clear choice: reform or stagnation. 

Labour and the Liberal Democrats could also give way to the Greens at the local level. Progressive parties managed to forge constructive arrangements to their collective benefit in May, paving the way for even more Green gains in the next set of local elections.

Finally, Labour should commit to working more closely with Greens like Sian Berry in government (assuming she is elected in Brighton Pavilion), particularly on the climate crisis. 

Rather than capitulating to the right, Labour has a chance to mobilise the progressive majority that exists in this country. It cannot let us down – the stakes are too high.