Labour chair Anna Turley has met MPs to discuss the threat from the Greens after their party’s Gorton and Denton by-election drubbing.
The Labour meeting on Wednesday afternoon follows long-held concerns among the party’s left that Number 10 has ignored its progressive voter base by trying to “out Reform Reform”.
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One MP present at the meeting held by the cabinet minister, who oversees party strategy, told Sky News there was “a keenness to listen to experiences from people around the country who’d faced challenges from the Greens in the past”.
However, others were sceptical about whether the government would take their concerns on board and what, if anything, could be done to turn things around while Sir Keir Starmer was still in charge.
Labour MPs are also split on attacks on the Greens, with some saying the party’s by-election campaign was too negative but another arguing they must be called out on their “batsh*t views on defence”.
The result on Thursday saw Labour lose a constituency it has controlled since the 1930s, coming third behind the Greens and Reform UK.
There was more bad news this week as a national YouGov opinion poll showed the Greens had now leapfrogged Labour into second place behind Reform UK.
The Labour Party is now said to be reassessing its voter coalition, as it gears up for potentially catastrophic local elections in May.
One MP at Wednesday’s meeting said several colleagues raised the need to be more positive when campaigning, saying both Labour and the Greens “went low” and that Labour “needs to become the party of hope again”.
Some MPs believe Labour focused too much of the campaign attacking the Greens on issues like legalising drugs rather than making a positive case for what the party has achieved so far.
Zack Polanski and Hannah Spencer. Pic: PA
However others have warned that winning back progressive voters doesn’t mean going soft on the Greens.
One MP told Sky News: “We’ve got to hold the Greens to account for their batsh*t views on defence that would risk Britain’s security, but also be confident that we are a progressive party. There’s a balance to be struck, and that’s exactly where the public’s at.”
While there was said to be a big turnout at the meeting, none of the left-wing socialist campaign group (SCG) faction were expected to attend. They felt it would be a “waste of time”, a source told Sky News.
A separate source on the left said MPs had been warning the leadership about the threat from the Greens for years and nothing short of a leadership change would fix that now.
However after Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham was blocked from standing in the seat, they conceded there was no obvious choice as a replacement leader.
While Angela Rayner is often tipped to be the left-wing candidate, many within the left believe she is too tainted by her tax scandal and association with the Starmer government, as Sky News has previously reported.
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on following the by-election defeat.
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He has also promised a better culture of engagement with backbenchers, telling them in a letter that Number 10 would host more policy roundtables and drop ins for Labour MPs to discuss policy issues.
One MP said: “The party that listens is usually the one that wins.”
However other backbenchers told Sky News they were sceptical of the prime minister’s promise.
One said that while Number 10 claimed to want loyalty “what they actually want is obedience”.
There has been a big push behind the scenes for action to address the expense of Plan 2 Student Loans, which some MPs hope could win back younger voters from the Greens. However, the Treasury is said to be resistant to the idea – meaning a fresh fight could be on the horizon.
Hannah Spencer’s victory in Gorton and Denton has made her the fifth Green Party MP in the House of Commons – the highest number of seats the party has ever had.
The plumber and plasterer beat Reform UK into second place, with a majority of 4,402.
The Labour Party, which had previously held the seat at the last general election, came third.
