London Green Left Blog

Written by Dave Taylor and Mike Shaughnessy 

It is a waste of time for us to be criticising Andy Burnham, we know his history and his faults. He has already reassured the banks that he will not frighten the horses and the electors of Makerfield that they were pretty shrewd in voting for Brexit. The old chestnut goes “A Blairite, a Brownite and a Corbynite walk into a pub, and the barman says, “Usual is it, Andy?” 

Reform is losing ground at the moment and the last two byelections where they expected to win they lost, first to Plaid and then to the Greens. A defeat in Makerfield would be a huge blow. In Gorton and Denton, George Galloway decided not to stand, saying “It was not in the interests of the working class”. Surely, there is room for Zack Polanski to say that it is not in the interest of anyone, except Farage’s multi- millionaire backers, for the Green Party to stand in Makerfield? 

That is certainly the case. Polanski has already indicated he would be able to work with Burnham. To imagine that Makerfield could be another Gorton and Denton style win for the Green Party would be delusional. 

Makerfield is not Gorton and Denton. Firstly, if Burnham had been the Labour candidate, they probably would have retained the seat. Secondly, that constituency is split between two Greater Manchester boroughs. Gorton is in Manchester itself, Denton is in Tameside. At the recent byelection, Gorton where two thirds of the voters live, the Green party came first by some margin, in Denton, Reform came first followed by Labour, with the Green vote just about holding up. 

As natives of Manchester, we know there is a political difference between Manchester and most of Greater Manchester. Another example was the EU referendum, where Manchester (along with Trafford and Stockport) voted to remain whilst the other seven boroughs in Greater Manchester voted to leave, including Wigan, where Makerfield is. 

In the recent local elections, Reform scored an impressive 50% of the vote, which suggests that if these voters are abandoning Labour, they are likely to move to voting for Reform. 

Burnham is more popular than his party at present, in Greater Manchester and elsewhere. He is probably the only politician that could beat Reform in Makerfield, with opinion polls showing him holding a small advantage over them.   

The Green party is riding high in the at present. A low vote or a lost deposit, quite possible in our view, could well slow the momentum of the last twelve months. Not standing would achieve a whole lot more respect and auger well for working with other progressive forces in future. Surely, stopping Reform winning the next General Election has to be high on our priorities? 

And what if Burnham was to lose by less than the Green Party vote? Perhaps unlikely but certainly scary. I guess that most us would be voting for Burnham if we had a vote in this byelection. That`s what tactical voting to defeat Farage means. 

Dave Taylor and Mike Shaughnessy

We are members of the Green party of England and Wales and Green Left supporters