‘Your Council has gone Green? Don’t Panic – Your Community Needs You!’

The Labour Party just fought what was our toughest local election campaign in decades. I want to thank every single person who knocked on a door, stuffed an envelope or delivered a leaflet. Candidates and activists up and down the country did us proud. 

Maybe your borough now has a Green Party controlled council? Don’t panic – all is not lost – in fact, now is the time that campaigning in your area matters most. Here are three things you can do. 

Use the Scrutiny Committee system well

The Greens certainly have ideas. But they are a party of the abstract and tend to fall down rather quickly when it comes to delivery. We have already seen this with Green-led administrations in Brighton and Bristol. This is why scrutiny committees are incredibly important. Read their local manifesto (it won’t take long – they’re generally big on slogans and pretty scant on detail). Take a note of each pledge, however vague, and put it in your back pocket. At every Scrutiny Committee, every Green Cabinet Member needs to be asked again and again: when will you implement your manifesto promises? What have you done to date towards this? How are you measuring progress? Be clear that as a scrutiny member you will only accept evidence and facts – not platitudes. Report back to your community, your CLP and your local paper.

READ MORE: ‘Labour is building a visible, accountable and confident state’

Use the Council Chamber to call out the empty rhetoric – especially on housing 

Does anyone know of a council housing development that the Green Party have actively supported? I am genuinely not aware of any. It would be unfair of course to say that the Green Party is against council housing…it is definitely 100 per cent in favour of perfect council new build projects that do not take up any space or involve any messy compromises. Sadly, these imaginary developments are not capable of helping homeless and overcrowded families in desperate need. This is why Labour Councillors and activists are vitally important in Green controlled boroughs – to fight for the council and socially rented homes that some of the most vulnerable families in your community need. In my own borough of Islington, the Green Party have tried to stop 658 council and social rent homes from being built. Keep a note in your other back pocket of any new build schemes that they have opposed in your area and any that they decide to cancel. Full Council Meetings are the place to ask questions and move motions to call out the Green Party’s lack of any coherent housing strategy. 

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Most importantly – keep up your activity in the community 

The worst kept secret in politics is that the Green Party tend to choose their next electoral targets by looking at areas with low levels of activity from Labour and other parties. This is why the work in wards won by the Greens begins today. A survey of local residents’ top priorities for their neighbourhood is a great way to start. Deliver it door to door as part of a newsletter. The results of your survey can help to inform three core issues that the local Labour Party team are going to campaign on in your area – making the case in the community, exposing any council inaction and pushing them for answers. The Labour Party at its best is about making a real difference to peoples’ lives – achieving results for communities up and down the country. This is the legacy that will outlast any Green Party slogan. Good luck! 

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