Ex-Corbyn aide Laura Parker: ‘Vote Green’ in Labour-held Bristol target seat

A former senior aide to Jeremy Corbyn, Laura Parker, has urged people to vote Green in one of the party’s handful of target seats, the Bristol Central seat held by Labour shadow cabinet minister Thangam Debbonaire, LabourList can reveal.

Speaking on a panel on Saturday alongside Green Party Deputy leader Zack Polanski, the former co-ordinator of Momentum said that she “agreed with everything” he had said.

She joked: “For the person from the Labour party governance and legal unit, I do agree with everything he said, write it down, I don’t care, and if you’re in Bristol, vote Green.”

Pollsters say Debbonaire would have won the new Bristol Central seat in 2019, which incorporates most of her Bristol West constituency, but Electoral Calculus suggests current polling points to a Green victory.

Polanski had said in his speech that “neither of the two old parties have any of the real alternatives or tangible plan to make a difference”.

Parker and Polanski were speaking at a conference organised by a coalition of groups including Another Europe is Possible and Compass, on a panel discussing how progressives should approach Brexit. Other speakers at the conference included former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and former International Development Secretary Clare Short.

Parker also argued that progressives must be ready to seize opportunities to improve relationships with the EU, arguing that the “tide is turning with the Great British public”, citing the figure that 56% of people now think Brexit was a bad idea.

It comes only a few days after The Guardian’s columnist Owen Jones revealed he had quit Labour, urging readers to vote for independents and Greens. He is now promoting a group called We Deserve Better, which is campaigning for “socialist candidates” including Green candidate and party co-leader Carla Denver in Bristol Central.

Jones’ appeal sparked a wave of criticism from a range of Labour voices.

Luke Akehurst, a member of Labour’s national executive committee, said there was “something rather pathetic about backing a random collection of Green and independent candidates who are seeking to undermine Labour just at the point where we’re headed towards an historic general election victory”. Another more sympathetic Labour MP still called it a “strategic blunder”, though one MP called it a “sad day  for the party” whether or not one shared Jones’ politics.

It also comes after Momentum recently voted on a proposal to widen membership beyond Labour members, though it was defeated.

Asked about her own comments on Saturday, Parker told LabourList: “This isn’t about what I have said – it’s about what the Labour frontbench is not saying.

“Labour should be condemning unequivocally the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza and doing everything in its power to rally progressive forces globally behind an immediate ceasefire and ending arms sales to Israel.

“Labour should be standing firm on workers’ rights and the climate crisis, and committing to ending the two-child benefit cap, re-introducing the bankers bonus cap, taxing wealth properly, and delivering fundamental reform of our political system.”

Parker previously worked as Jeremy Corbyn’s private secretary and as the national coordinator of Momentum. She is on the national committee of Another Europe is Possible.

Labour Party rules suggest members risk expulsion for “providing financial support or assistance to, or otherwise supporting the campaign of an individual that stands in opposition to, or declares an intention to stand in opposition to, a Labour Party candidate”.

Also banned is “possessing membership of, providing financial assistance to, sitting on the ruling body of or otherwise supporting (as may be defined by the national executive committee) any political organisation that the NEC in its absolute discretion shall declare to be inimical with the aims and values of the party”.

Bristol Live reported recently that a Green councillor in Bristol had been suspended after a complaint, though the individual dubbed the complaint “vexatious”, and another local election candidate had stood down.

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