Labour's "vote for Keir or the puppy gets it" strategy to mobilise leftish and liberal voters against Farage only works if Labour presents social and EU-friendly policy puppies that leftish or liberal voters want to protect
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Honestly can’t imagine any progressive voter supporting Lab now. They are Reform in all but name. In fact they maybe further to the right than Reform. Starmer seems to think capturing the votes of 25% of Lab/Reform voters is better than the 70% of Lab/LibDem/Green votes.
I’m not voting for the lesser of two evils again. The difference between labour and reform isn’t big enough for me to care or lend them my vote ever again.
Also, it denies other parties both agency (e.g. Cleverly ousts badenoch as loto & becomes markedly less rabidly euro-phobic as the reset gets seen as not going far enough) or indeed existence (the libdems inconveniently continue to exist)
This was always the Starmer strategy. They deployed against Nandy in the leadership election, and now they are deploying it against their own supporters. It's hostage politics, and it never works.......except for the extreme right. It is the politics of Deborah Mattison
Really? 😏 Interesting narrative.
Unfortunately not 100% correct.
1. Farage 's anti free movement polemics are as old as the Brexit debate
2. Starmer copied exactly Reform's red lines and recently rhetorics to appeal Reform voters.
Yep. They're reprising the Peter Mandelson error: 'The working-class vote has nowhere else to go'. But with Reform, the LibDems and the Greens threatening them on both flanks, clearly it has. Or people simply don't bother voting at all. As a political strategy it's utterly insane.
I hope that the Greens will step up quickly. I don't want to NOT vote, but Labour, Tory and Reform do not deserve a vote. Lib Dems and Greens should not wait until the last 6 months to start their campaign.
If @zackpolanski.bsky.social wins the upcoming Green Party leadership election you will indeed see a significant boost to the Greens' profile as Zack drives a bolder, more radical and grassroots-focused approach.
Makes sense to me. It was set up as a vehicle to embed US interests in western Europe. And Trump's recent actions re Canada, Greenland, pressure to expand members' military budgets etc underscore the fact that it is not fit for purpose.
he is now just holding a dead puppy so short of a radical change of leadership (which isn't going to happen) I think there is little option but to attempt a realignment on the centre/left.
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Anyone remember how tough on the border, paling with the Cheneys and the border bill helped Kamala?
The red lines aren't Farage's doing. They're Starmer's.
Starmer adopted it and put it in the Labour manifesto.
It wasn't Farage who put it in Labour's manifesto.
Unfortunately not 100% correct.
1. Farage 's anti free movement polemics are as old as the Brexit debate
2. Starmer copied exactly Reform's red lines and recently rhetorics to appeal Reform voters.
So, Starmer's red lines are drawn by Farage
Starmer Labour manifesto 2024
Starmer knew what the right thing to do was in 2020, but now he's Labour leader he has adopted May's red lines.
Nobody has forced him to pivot 180°. He has done that voluntarily. Sold out to the Brexiters.
https://bylinetimes.com/2025/05/08/green-party-deputy-leader-zack-polanski-says-uk-must-leave-nato-because-of-trump/
That's madness.
NATO is there to safeguard against such things.