Greens in London- I must have been living under a rock!

[UhOhRatPoo]

I have been quite busy at work recently so not following local politics that closely, but I had been reading the leaflets through my door and got the impression that my local council was a simple Labour v Lib Dem race.

I’m in a London Borough with a long history of Labour control. Thought it was time for a change, duly cast my votes for the Lib Dems only to wake up today and find that the Greens had come within 100 votes of unseating Labour in my ward, they have won loads of other wards, Labour has lost control and it’s now NOC with Greens second biggest party.
And the borough next door has a Green mayor and there are Green controlled councils all over London!

The Lib Dems are nowhere to be seen.

(I am ignoring Tories and Reform as they are totally irrelevant round here). How did I not see this coming?

I have nothing against the Greens, would possibly have voted for them if I’d realised they were a viable second party.

What would make you vote for the Greens?
which of their policies do you like best?
anti-female, anti-police, anti-Semitic?

Don’t ask me, ask all the people who did vote them in London!

This is kind of my point.

I hope you would not have voted for them. A horrible alliance of activists and extremists led by a complete charlatan.

Once again, so why did so many people do so then?

I’m afraid you’ve been slightly living under a rock… there’s been a huge amount of news coverage about the London “green surge”.

I’m afraid posts like this bug me slightly as people often say “why didn’t I read/hear this in the news?” when what they really mean is “I haven’t actually watched or read any news lately “

Polls suggest young women are voting green, London has one of the youngest populations in the UK so it makes sense. Having said that a few women at work said they had been undecided and went green at the polling station, felt it was the most optimistic way to go.

So, the bit where I said I’d not been following local politics that closely…that was literally admitting that I hadn’t been watching the news.

My point is that the Greens were not remotely campaigning on my doorstep because I did read all the Labour and Lib dem stuff that came to the door. And they were only criticising each other, not the Greens.

Yet they came a close second in my ward.

I actually don’t understand why the greens did so well. Hackney boroughs. I guess it’s a vote of loss of confidence in Labour, but…. The greens?! Why? Is Hackney an anti semitic borough?

There’s been a lot of coverage and discussion about the Greens. It’s on a par with how much coverage Farage used to get when he was leader on UKIP etc This is the first time I can name and recognise the Green party leader.

It’s relatively recent OP, they are presenting themselves as the only party with any left-wing policies.

How committed they are does remain to be seen - I certainly know older Green Party members who care far more about the planet than poor people, and who would not be in favour of traditional Labour tax and spend policies. I don’t know how much power those older members still wield, or if it is all left-wing Labour-refugee entryists.

Because they don’t know that the national leader is a populist misogynist who once told a woman he could hypnotise her breasts into growing a cup size?

Also possibly because they have some good local candidates?

Or to give Labour something to think about nationally on policies around climate, immigration, progressive growth and public services?

Combo of all these reasons?

I am surprised LDs didn’t do better though.

Zac Polanski is Jewish, so unlikely an antisemite would vote for him?

They were the only party offering policies to the left of Labour.

Well Hackney is home to the largest community of ultra-orthodox Jews in the UK but I don’t think they tend to vote.

Idealistic do gooder young women and Gaza.

That’s your Green vote.

Also, do you not see the difference between “I must have been living under a rock” (my thread title) and “Have I been living under a rock?” (The question you are falsely accusing me of asking).

Some of the voters would believe that green means promoting nature and saving the earth. Some would believe that it’s a far left, almost Marxist party and that takes the voters who previously voted for Corbyn. It’s also the party that attracts the people who demonstrated on behalf of Palestine. It’s a mixed bag.

I wonder what would happen if they voted. I perhaps naievely imagine them to be very balanced and sane.. so I guess they have nobody to vote for.

Suppose it would depend if they actually were anti-Semitic or just has the perception of being so, kind of like ZP when discussing the ambulance attacks? We saw arson attacks on ambulances for instance, and we know that increasingly Jewish communities are feeling unsafe.
“Now, there’s a conversation to be had about whether it’s a perception of unsafety or whether it’s actual unsafety,

I think you'll struggle to find a political party at this point which isn't made up of activists, extremists and led by a charlatan.

Bang on the money.

In the other borough with new Green Mayor, ward results coming in slowly but it's not looking good for Labour.
Here Labour have controlled the council forever and people are fed up. There's a lot of opposition to a local development and the Green Party seems to have given those people a party to coalesce around which the Lib Dems weren't able to achieve. It's also a youth and anti-Israel movement with lots of shiny new candidates unlike the same old Lib Dems who've been dogedly standing each time despite getting nowhere.
Getting impatient waiting for my ward as like you @UhOhRatPoo only received leaflets from Labour and Lib Dems...

I used to be a member of the green party. It has been taken over by an ugly alliance of identitarians and islamist sectarians. They are already committed to abolishing women's rights to single-sex spaces, legalising drugs, including date-rape drugs. No doubt local sharia law would be part of the deal for the bloc vote. It is the most regressive, misogynistic party out there. People see what they want to see - maybe Zach's experience as a hypno-therapist helps. Certainly lots of naive young people can only see 'hope' and 'love'. Oh and he claimed professional accreditation for his hypno-therapy practice, which he had not achieved. He lied. If he had a proper job he would be sacked for that. The Greens. God help us.

Probably because they’ve been living under the same rock as you and think the Greens are the environment loving slightly hippy party of old…..

This is the sort of thing that happens when people vote without reading manifestos and only get their news from a single or narrow range or sources

Maybe they’re looking forward to paying £600 rent for a 2 bed flat as proposed by Dylan Law.

See link below:

Dylan Law

I voted for them because I’m concerned by wealth inequality and cost of living crisis. I don’t believe Labour are acting on this.
Im also very angry about the cuts on disabled adults and children. The constant lurching toward Reform is a disgrace.
I am confident the councillor candidate I voted for is not antisemetic. I specifically talked to him about this before making my decision.