- Even if you want the Tories out – Vote Green
The Conservatives are polling probably lower than ever in our lifetime, and despite all their attempts to ‘reset’, they have no credible answers to the urgent problems of the day. People are fed up with the lies and corruption, the state of the country, the cost of living, the decline of the NHS.
Even in Morecambe and Lunesdale, a seat currently held by a Conservative MP- the polls show that David Morris is going to get stomped by Labour, even allowing for a deposit-keeping (over 5%) increase in the Green vote.
See electoral calculus site which predicts 94% chance of Labour winning, https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/calcwork23.py?seat=Morecambe+and+Lunesdale
- If you want Green policies -Vote Green.
The only way to influence other parties’ policies is to take their votes! On everything from urgent action on the climate and nature- tackling sewage in the sea and pollution in our rivers, immediate steps to help address the alarming increase in the cost of living, , affordability of housing – building more council houses, and a whole raft of measures to achieve economic justice- the Greens have policies that people like and want and which will improve quality of life for the vast majority of people.
Labour has bought into the Conservative’s austerity ideology. But as the UK is the 5th/6th richest nation in the world- we know that this is a choice not a necessity. We can afford, and we all deserve, better public services.
Greens have credible practical solutions to the real issues facing people every day and voting Green will make the Labour government braver and more ambitious.
- If you want Proportional Representation – Vote Green at THIS election.
-All polls show that Labour will form the next Government. Voting Green – a party fundamentally committed to Proportional Representation and wider electoral reform – will put pressure on Labour to adopt proportional representation.
-PR will help regain trust in our failing democracy. Under a fairer voting system there would be less frequent Tory governments, and more left- leaning and liberal coalition ones. Under PR there could be tens of Green MPs. The only other country in Europe that uses FPTP is the dictatorship in Belarus.
-Use your voter pressure DURING this general election. It is a meaningless statement for a Labour candidate to say in this election that they favour PR. Labour candidates have had plenty of time to pressure their leadership to commit to introduce PR, they still have time to do this and will only do this by really feeling the heat from voters.
-Labour candidates won’t feel the heat if voters hope they will introduce PR when Labour has won! The majority of Labour members, affiliated Unions and plenty of MP candidates support PR now. But Starmer blocked it. So he doesn’t seem to fundamentally care about the lack of democracy and about the ‘wasted votes’ in all the safe seat constituencies where people feel disenfranchised as their vote makes so little difference.
-In 1997 when Labour won a landslide victory they quickly reneged on their manifesto promise to introduce PR. It obviously works for Labour to use the undemocratic first-past-the post and two-party system to prop up their vote by manipulating people into voting for them.
-Tactical voting campaign groups have a poor record of success in terms of changing Labour policy. The well-intentioned campaign group- Compass- continues to argue in favour of a ‘Progressive Alliance’ between progressive parties for PR. But despite willingness of the Greens over years to enter into discussions – Labour is not willing to have cross-party talks for an electoral pact. Despite funding and Compass staff working on this there has been no change by Labour. Sadly Compass’ work serves only the interest of the Labour Party.
If not now –when?
It appears the Labour leadership would prefer to rather stick with a system that gives us Tory governments most of the time, than change to one where Labour might have to share power in a coalition that was more representative of the progressive majority of the country.
Labour’s promise to PR has to be in their manifesto now. Nothing else is good enough. This must be the ‘safest’ election in a generation – even for those at pains not to let Tories in – for Green supporters to vote with their conscience. Green Party votes in this election will matter in future elections – small parties must start somewhere.
-Help the Greens keep our deposit in Morecambe and Lunesdale and still get rid of David Morris.
-Increase central funding for those Green MPs elected. A higher Green vote across the country directly increases funding to help Green MPs staff their offices. It is -proportional to party vote share nationally – the Green Party does not receive big business or big union funding.
-Help us hold Labour’s feet to the fire!
NB All of this applies to nearly every seat in the Country but even more so in Lancaster and Wyre constituency where Labour has an even higher probability of keeping the seat, and where Jack Lenox, the Green candidate could beat the Tories into third place!
