The Green surge continues. Five councillors from Brent Council in London announced their defection from Labour to the Greens this evening, in the biggest single move between the two parties since the election of Zack Polanski as leader earlier this year. The capital is a big target for the party in May’s elections.
Speaking at an event in north-west London this evening, Polanski said: “What we’re witnessing in Brent mirrors what we are hearing across the country on doorsteps and in polls.” He added: “Good Labour councillors can see Labour has abandoned any sense of progressive politics.”
This is the latest of a slew of defections from Labour to the Greens at councils across London. On 5 December, Sam Foster, the former chair of the Southwark Housing Scrutiny Commission made this move. This followed three Labour councillors in Barking and Dagenham leaving to join the Green Party in September. At next year’s elections, the Greens have set their sights set on taking the Hackney mayoralty, as well as diminishing Labour’s hold on several stronghold councils across the capital.
Since Polanski’s election in September, the party has grown exponentially and is now the third largest in the UK (behind Labour and Reform) with 180,000 members. A recent poll put Polanski’s approval rating on net -1, compared with Starmer who is currently sitting on -47.
The reason the councillors in Brent gave for quitting Labour was that the party has abandoned its core values. Tony Ethapemi, who represents Stonebridge, said: “I left the Labour Party because the party is no longer the party I joined over 25 years ago.” Similarly, Mary Mitchell, a councillor in the Welsh Harp ward, said: “The Labour Party has left the values that I stand for, and what the party historically has stood for and achieved.” The party’s biggest defection to date was in November when the former Corbynite MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle quit Labour to join them.
To the Greens, this steady trickle reflects wider discontent with the Labour Party nationally. Eugene McCarthy, chair of the London Green Party Federation, said: “This huge defection reflects what we are hearing on the doorstep. Labour aren’t prepared for what’s coming in May’s local elections.”
For now, only councillors and ex-MPs have moved across from Starmer’s Labour to Polanski’s Greens. But the party remains confident that more politicians will come to a similar conclusion ahead of the local elections in May. No MPs have crossed the floor of the House yet – but never say never.
[Further reading: The economics behind Zack Polanski’s claims]
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