- The UK is staring down the barrel of a Reform government in 2029. Such a result would be a historic defeat for the working class and minority communities. A victory for Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and candidate for the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) in this by-election would be a victory for the working class and all progressives. Hannah says her message is ‘that Greens will cut the cost of living and expose Britain’s role in the Gaza genocide’. Her victory would show that policies to the left of Labour can defeat Reform and Labour. This would give credibility to those policies and confidence that the left and ecological movement can win in these circumstances.
- Green policies on welfare/social spending, Palestine, democratic rights, military spending/nuclear weapons, migrants, drugs policy, taking back all the utilities into public ownership, and taxing the rich are to the left of Labour and mirror many of the policies we want Your Party to agree to and fight for.
- A victory for the Greens would be a defeat for the Labour leadership and its policy of attempting to defeat Reform by adopting its anti-migrant policies. Starmer’s position will be weakened and a leadership challenge is even more likely with the chance of a soft-left replacement. Those left activists still in the Labour party would welcome such a challenge.
- This would completely undermine Labour’s desperate tactic of saying only it can defeat Reform and so people should rally around it to stop fascism getting closer. Labour is paving the way for the far right by normalising the authoritarian anti-migrant, anti-trans agenda and establish that progressive-minded voters want an alternative, not just lesser evilism.
- Your Party would benefit from the increased electoral credibility of the platform that the Greens are standing on since it is likely to agree to many similar policies.
- This unitary approach should make it possible to develop future collaborative relationships with the Green Party locally and across England and Cymru/Wales. This is the approach being adopted already in a number of localities where independent socialist candidates with the support of local Your Party campaigners are forging electoral pacts with the GPEW.
- The history of our movement shows that we have to start from the interests of the working class as a whole and not the concerns of small numbers of socialists who wish to place their differences with other progressive forces as the main criteria for taking a political position on the key questions of the day.
- Calling for a vote for the Greens does not mean that ACR has no disagreements with their formal positions. We have a different view of the balance between intervention in elections and the mass struggle. We have a different understanding of the nature of capitalism, the need for a rupture with the British state and the transition to an eco-socialist future. However, we can work with them in this campaign which will focus on where we agree.
- We regret the fact that YP, while correctly deciding not to put up its own candidate at this time, has not called for a Green vote even after nominations have closed. This by-election is too important for socialists to abstain. From that point of view we welcome Zarah Sultana’s personal statement. Sadly, the Grassroots Left in Your Party has issued a statement which is totally out of step with the views of many in the party and the understandable desire to have a united front against Reform (and Labour!).
- A vote for the Greens and a united campaign will be a blow to the far-right juggernaut and will show that there is an alternative politics to those of the right and the capitulation of Labour to their agenda. Creating working alliances with Green activists can help efforts to make the Green movement more anti-capitalist. The best strategic path for socialists in the next few years is to work towards a Red-Green alliance at the 2029 general election, and to fight for it to be on a consistent anticapitalist platform.
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