Collapsing Labour vote in Barnsley sees some choosing between Greens and Reform

Barnsley Greens have told us that “a collapse in the Labour vote” is likely, and that some voters are choosing between the Green Party and Reform.

Reform using misdirection to try and win Barnsley

For 50 years, Labour has run the council, with one man leading it for 30 years. As a former mining area, it played a key role in fuelling the Industrial Revolution. But Margaret Thatcher decimated these working-class areas, setting off an elite offensive that has served the rich at ordinary people’s expense ever since.

Barnsley North MP Dan Jarvis, who has received the backing of dodgy right-wing group Labour Together, is a good example of how the Thatcher era sucked Labour into the elite offensive too. Labour today is fully aware that it’s losing power in Barnsley and similar areas, but it seems to be offering too little too late.

The Thatcherites at Reform UK, meanwhile, have been targeting Barnsley. But as Greens in Barnsley told us, some Reform campaign material has been focusing on racist leader Nigel Farage and divisive national issues rather than on the local concerns that people in Barnsley have.

Barnsley Greens treasurer Tom Heyes said:

Most of the things that they are offering to do aren’t within the scope of the council anyway.

Sophie Parkinson is standing as a candidate in the Darton West ward – where the Greens hope to do well. And she added:

Barnsley Council are never going to, you know, affect the border controls.

She also showed us a Reform leaflet and stressed that:

This has got none of the candidates on it. It’s coming from Nigel Farage.

Most potential Reform voters Heyes has spoken to, he said, seem to be doing so as a “protest vote” against Labour rather than having a firm reason for doing so.

Greens or Reform?

Heyes, meanwhile, explained that on the doorstep:

We’re getting quite a lot of people saying, ‘I don’t want to vote Labour – we want to get this Labour lot out’. Some people even say their vote is between Green or Reform, which I find surprising because of the polar difference between those policies and approaches, but they’re that concerned to change things. They feel like things need to be changed.

Neither the Greens nor Reform have councillors in Barnsley right now. But funding from super-wealthy individuals means Reform may soon change that. With this in mind, Heyes would ask voters:

Why do you think a crypto billionaire based in Thailand gives £9m to Nigel Farage? What’s he going to get in return for that? And if they give that much money, then who is the party working for? Are they working for them or for you?

The Greens, on the other hand, don’t have that billionaire backing. And they’re very much focusing on listening to local people. As Heyes insisted:

When we’re going around to people’s homes, we’re asking them what their concerns and issues are, and we’ve tried to base our campaign around the stuff that people have told us. Obviously, we have our agenda as the Green Party, and we will use those values when we get into power, but in a way that respects the needs and wishes of our local communities.

And he said one common issue for people is “road safety and traffic” because:

There have been a number of serious and fatal accidents in our area in the last few years.

That will be a priority for the Greens, he stressed.

Trevor Mayne is also running in Darton West, and is leading on the party’s road safety policy. Barnsley Greens said this will be:

prioritising stronger pedestrian safety, reducing critical accidents, supporting a new cycling route and promoting a 20-mph speed limit in selected residential areas.

Kabir Nepal, meanwhile, is the final candidate for this ward. And he told us Greens:

will continue to push the council for new equipment where it is needed, in order to ensure that Darton West’s public spaces and parks are usable for our children.

Labour’s impending collapse in Barnsley

Heyes asserted that:

There definitely will be a collapse in the Labour vote…

One of the biggest criticisms is about the amount of debt and the amount of debt interest that the Labour council is having to pay now, because of the money that they’ve borrowed…

He described how Barnsley Council has “spent a lot of money” in Barnsley’s town centre to make it look prettier, with a “new public square” and “some fancy illuminated sculptures”. But away from this focus on image, he said:

a lot of people are feeling that their peripheral areas in the town are not getting a fair crack at the whip.

Industrial decline had a deep impact on Barnsley. Almost a quarter of its areas are “highly deprived“. And it has high levels of people out of work, experiencing poor health, and waiting for social housing. In many ways, Westminster and Labour have left the town behind.

The sleaze and immorality of Keir Starmer‘s government, meanwhile, seems to have tipped things over the edge. As Heyes said:

You can tell from our own membership that a lot of people have left the Labour Party and come and joined the Green Party. That’s probably the biggest chunk of our new members, who have left Labour because Labour has gone so far to the right and has abandoned its historic mission.

Greens in Darton West and beyond are looking to present a hopeful, inclusive alternative to Labour that listens to local people’s concerns. But they will need as much support as they can get to compete with the vast resources of far-right Reform.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

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