Take it from me – attacking the Greens’ fringe policies won’t work for Labour in Gorton and Denton
Lucy Powell, deputy leader of the Labour Party (left) and Anna Turley, chair of the Labour Party (right) at the announcement that Angeliki Stogia (centre) is the party's candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election, January 31, 2026 (PA Images / Alamy)
3 min read
By-elections can be a pain for campaigners. I have memories of taking my mum to a remote corner of the North West which was an hour away from any train station; it was cold and rainy, dogs howled and we didn’t win.
Voters can resent or ignore by-elections – or use them as a means of telling a governing party they are fed up. Leaflets have confusingly similar claims and counter-claims about who is the only party who can beat another party, sometimes illustrated with different coloured silhouettes of two racing horses. Rarely do so many trees die for so little effect.
In Gorton and Denton, both Labour and the Greens are pitching as the “only party who can beat Reform”. In a constituency that had a healthy Labour majority in 2024, in a Labour city with Labour MPs, council and mayor, it is noticeable that the Greens are currently the bookies’ favourite, though Reform and Labour are close by.
So, what should Labour do?
Voters need a good reason to vote Labour. Under a Labour government with a healthy majority, this needs to be better than “because the others are worse than us”. And clearly, “change”, the 2024 slogan, won’t work this time.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the decision about who our candidate is, we should campaign on Labour achievements and commitments.
In a seat with Reform and Greens in contention to take over a previously solid Labour seat, the temptation can be to triangulate – to Reform voters and to would-be Green voters – or rely on persuading Green-curious voters not to risk the Reform candidate winning.
Labour, the party in government with its policies tested in real time, is competing against two populist parties that can and do put forward proposals without any need or intention of having them tested in government any time soon. That’s a challenge – anyone who wants to keep a Labour government, even if they are grumpy with us, knows that the day after the by-election there will still be one. It’s a no-regrets kicking for anyone who wants to “send a message to Keir Starmer”.
Attacking the Greens on fringe policies doesn’t tend to work on Green-curious voters – they either don’t believe the accusations, or don’t care, or are actually in favour of what we attack. They also see it as a big establishment party bullying the friendly, cuddly underdogs. It backfires.
Far better to demonstrate two sets of transformational actions: first, what Labour is already doing on Green ground for those who want the climate change and nature agenda tackling (see Ed Miliband’s social media); secondly, the great Labour things Labour voters expect and want. And demonstrate how that benefits people in Gorton and Denton.
Rights for tenants to be treated fairly? Tick. Increases in minimum wage? Tick. Cleaning up our water of sewage, chemicals and water companies who have let us all down? Tick, tick. Rebuilding our relationship with the EU? Tackling numerous other messes successive Tory governments created or failed to deal with – in the NHS, schools, prisons, courts etc? Tick, tick, tick.
These are things ignored for years, until everyone felt the country simply wasn’t working as it should. Understandably, the public is impatient. But while there is lots more to do, there’s a great deal for Labour to be proud of already.
So, beating the Greens can be done, and it’s worth doing. It must be earned and communicated. Rather than pretending to be other parties, or relying on fear or mockery, we must listen to people’s frustrations and link them to Labour solutions.
Baroness Debbonaire is a Labour peer
