Right, and can you believe that the Greens are contemplating standing aside in Makerfield, in order to give Burnham a free hit?
Forgive lack of paras - FT
Senior Green Party figures are proposing to hold back from investing significant resources in the Makerfield by-election next month to help clear the path for Labour’s Andy Burnham. Several party members, conscious the Greens have limited support in the constituency in north-west England, are wary of being blamed for splitting the progressive vote and allowing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to win, according to people involved in discussions. “We do not want this one to go to Reform, and to be quite frank, we do not want Labour to be able to turn around and say ‘if you vote Green, you’re actually voting Reform’ because that will be used for the next three years,” a senior party figure said. “It should be a case of standing but saying, actually, this isn’t going to be a big priority or a Green target.” Burnham’s team contacted the Greens over the weekend to gather intelligence about how the party planned to approach the forthcoming by-election, according to two people briefed on the matter. The by-election is scheduled for June 18. Labour’s Andy Burnham campaigning ahead of the Makerfield by-election in June © Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images One of the people said there was a feeling in the party that it was a missed opportunity to seek concessions or policy commitments from Burnham’s team. “The moment has passed. His team has no need for that now and it might just make him look weak,” they said. In the 2024 general election, the Greens won 4 per cent of the vote, while Labour took 45 per cent and Reform 32 per cent in Makerfield. At local elections in Wigan, just north of Makerfield, earlier this month, the Greens came fifth, behind the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, while Reform took control of the council. The by-election in Makerfield, which is seen as a stepping stone for Burnham to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership, is expected to be a battle between Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, and Farage’s populists. Rupert Lowe’s far-right Restore Britain has vowed to run a fierce campaign for the Greater Manchester seat and the Tories will also stand a candidate, meaning Reform could see its vote chipped away. Following their unprecedented by-election win in the Manchester seat of Gorton and Denton in February, some in Zack Polanski’s party are eager to take the fight to Burnham, or use the threat of whittling away votes from Labour to force concessions, such as support for proportional representation. On Wednesday evening, the Greens selected Chris Kennedy, a registered nurse and children’s safeguarding specialist who lives locally, to run in Makerfield. After Kennedy’s selection, Polanski said “we know there are many voters fed up with the status quo who will only choose between Reform and Greens”, adding “we have shown we can take votes from Reform in a way Labour just can’t”. Another party strategist said the biggest strategic priority for the Greens was to “win over more moderate voters on the soft left”. “By making a big song and dance about ‘we hate Andy Burnham’ — probably the most popular politician in the country — we will really alienate a lot of those people,” they said. Former Green leader Caroline Lucas wrote on X that she hoped her party would not properly contest the seat. “There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them,” she said. Adrian Ramsay, another former co-leader, wrote: “Progressive parties need to recognise that the big threat to the country is a Reform-led government. And in my view avoiding that will involve some give and take from everyone. Burnham must clearly set out his position on a fair voting system.” However, the Green Party strategist dismissed calls to offer a toned-down election campaign in favour of concessions on proportional representation as “essentially student politics”. Reform UK’s candidate in Makerfield Robert Kenyon with Nigel Farage © ReformUK “That isn’t a bread-and-butter issue, nobody in the general public outside of a very niche group of graduates cares about proportional representation at all,” they said. Reform’s candidate in Makerfield Robert Kenyon, a plumber who also stood in 2024, has drawn criticism for alleged affiliation with extremists and controversial online comments. Critics have said Kenyon was friends on Facebook with ex-BNP and Britain First member Gary Raikes who now leads the New British Union, the modern successor party to Oswald Mosley’s British Union Fascists. Kenyon’s X account was suspended after reportedly making comments about Asian men walking around Birmingham “assaulting white people en masse”, and claiming that far-right rioters “don’t really exist”. Reform said it stood by Kenyon completely. 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