Dear Labour supporters…

As a long-time Labour voter who has since joined the Greens, and is still not absolutely certain which way to vote in the General Election, I keep finding myself saying the same thing on Twitter when discussing the election. Rather than repeat myself so many times, I thought I’d put a few of the standard questions and answers down here for reference. Just so you don’t have to ask me again and again, directly….

“Vote Green, get Tory”

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told this. Firstly, in my constituency that simply isn’t true. The Tories don’t really have a chance here – and anyway, if they did (and I’ll be watching the polling closely) I would almost certainly vote Labour. Secondly, we can’t just be cynical about this – if we think only in those terms, we’d never get the kinds of changes that brought the Labour Party into existence in the first place. Elections aren’t just about the immediate short-term result. If you want real change – and I would hope most progressive (not to say radical) people do want real change – we have to think in longer terms, and in deeper ways.

Vote Labour, get Tory Policies

Thirdly, this brings up the next argument. Right now, it looks as though – for many of the issues that matter to me – a more accurate statement would be ‘vote Labour, get Tory Policies’. Yes, I know the policies over the NHS are different, and I know the austerity wouldn’t be quite as harsh, and I know the bedroom tax would be repealed, but that’s not enough for me. The appallingly xenophobic immigration policy is near identical, Gove’s ‘reforms’ to education seem to be being embraced by Tristram Hunt, the authoritarian civil liberties policies (not to mention counter-productive puritanism on things like internet filtering/censorship), and the overall acceptance of the false ‘scrounger/striver’ (including regular reference to punitive measures or use of coercion on benefit claimants) dichotomy is tantamount to Toryism.

Yes, I agree on the NHS, but given the amount of apparent denial among Labour ranks about PFI and so forth, I’m not fully convinced. When I see Labour’s unwillingness to be brave in relation to rail renationalisation, and the tentative nature of the opposition to the privatisation of the Royal Mail, I’m even less convinced.

And yes, I know that Labour’s austerity wouldn’t be as ‘bad’ as the current Tory austerity – that just makes Labour ‘ordinary’ Tory, and the current Tories ‘extreme’ Tory. And yes, I know that the lesser of two evils may be the ‘better’ choice in the end, but have we really come to that point? I hope not.

How NOT to get Green voters back…

Overall, my interactions with Labour supporters have reinforced the feelings that made me join the Green Party in the first place. I’m accused of stupidity by some, of being too posh by others, of not understanding how politics works by more – the whole ‘vote Green, get Tory’ idea suggests that I haven’t thought it through. It’s an insult to my intelligence – and to my understanding of politics. I’ve been told Greens are just sandal-wearing middle-class hand-wringers. Again, not true – and insulting. Do you really think that insulting people will make them like you more?

How TO get Green voters back…

Well, a starting point would be an acknowledgment of why people feel abandoned by the Labour Party. For me, there was one pivotal moment – when Liam Byrne effectively supported (by abstaining) the retrospective legislation on Workfare, something which even now does not seem to have been acknowledged to have been a mistake. There have been other ‘facepalm’ moments when I’ve been reminded that the Parliamentary Labour Party is not on the same page as me. I know lots of excellent people in local Labour Party politics, but it’s still very hard to see how local activists get their views into the national arena. It’s hard to see any comprehension of why people might be upset – instead, when there’s a mention of something good, it’s almost always immediately matched by something appalling and retrogressive. An attack on David Cameron for not being nasty enough over immigration. An absurdity like the ‘oath’ for teachers. More support for internet censorship by Helen Goodman.

That’s why I felt the need to go elsewhere. I don’t think Labour wants to listen to people like me. Maybe I’m a dinosaur. Maybe I’m an extremist. Maybe I’m too focused on particular issues. If I felt, however, that there was even a decent chance that Labour might change on some of these things, that they might not feel the need to ape Tory/UKIP xenophobia, that they might be willing to be a touch braver, a touch more radical – then I’d be much more likely to vote Labour, even to rejoin Labour.

If, on the other hand, I get the same, tired arguments and insults, that’s likely to do precisely the opposite. Every time I’m told ‘vote Green, get Tory,’ my heart sinks for Labour – and I’m less likely to vote for them.

Prime Minister Ed?

Don’t get me wrong, I very much want to see Ed Miliband in number 10 – but I want to see an Ed Miliband not shackled to Tory policies, wedded to a Tory agenda. Right now, for me, the best way to do that seems to be, counterintuitively though it may seem, to support the Greens. How else can I tell Labour that I want a more radical, more left wing agenda? I’m very glad there are people within the Labour Party fighting to make Labour more radical – but to me, it feels as though Labour needs pressure from outside as well as inside. If pressure only comes from inside, it’s easy to ignore – and has been ignored, to a great extent, for the last few years. If, however, Labour feels as though it’s losing members, voters and supporters, then it has to react. The question is how it reacts. By insulting and patronising, or by listening and (possibly) changing. I know which one I want – and which one is likely to work on me.