Politics
I Moved My Kids Across 8 Countries To Give Them Something AI Can’t Replace
My son, Mahaan, was nine the first time I watched him fail at something in real time.
We had just moved to Sintra, Portugal, and he’d joined the local football league. No one on the team spoke English. No one looked like him. In those first weeks, I’d watch him keep glancing back at us between huddles, a look on his face that said, clear as anything, “I have no idea what these people are saying.”
There was no app or translation he could pull up mid-drill. He just had to stand there, not understanding, and figure out what to do with that.
What he did was sit in it. Over several weeks, he learned to read his coach’s hand gestures. He slowly found ways to connect with his teammates that didn’t require language – a pass, a nod, a joke that worked without words. By the second month, he was best friends with half the team.
I think about that season a lot now, mostly because of how rare it’s becoming.
Every conversation about kids and AI seems to land on the same worries: cheating on essays, shortened attention spans, a generation that can’t write a sentence without a prompt. Those are real concerns. But after two decades spent studying how children actually learn, and a handful of years watching my own two kids grow up in a dozen different countries, the thing that keeps me up isn’t plagiarism.
I’m afraid we’re raising a generation of kids who will never have to sit inside discomfort long enough to learn what they’re made of.
There’s a concept in learning science called assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation is when new information fits neatly into what a child already understands – easy, comfortable, low friction. Accommodation is what happens when it doesn’t fit, when the old mental model breaks and has to be rebuilt; this is where things get uncomfortable, and also where almost all real growth happens.
AI, used the way most of our kids are currently using it, is an assimilation machine, and that’s what concerns me most.
My daughter, Laaha, is a writer. She carries a typewriter with her, an actual one, and disappears into it for hours. Watching her work without AI is watching someone wrestle with a sentence until it says the thing she actually means, not the thing that was easiest to produce.
The few times she’s used AI to help with a piece of writing, the results came back faster and cleaner, but something in them felt thinner. The sentence had an answer in it, but not a search. She noticed it before I had to point it out, that the writing that meant the most to her was always the writing that had cost her something to get to.
That process, that reward – that’s what I feared my kids would lose. So a few years ago, my husband and I made the decision to leave a conventional life behind and start moving our family through different countries and cultures, building our kids’ education around the world instead of around a single classroom.
Photo Courtesy Of Rekha Magon
People assumed we were running from something or chasing some Instagram version of freedom. We weren’t. We were trying to engineer something specific back into childhood: situations our kids couldn’t Google their way out of.
A new country where they don’t speak the language yet. A friendship that has to be built from absolute scratch, with someone who looks nothing like them and grew up nothing like they did. A problem – logistical, social, emotional, that has no clean answer.
When we first moved to Kotor, Montenegro, the stoic, reserved culture of the Balkans came as a shock to my daughter. Laaha was 11, and by then she was used to running small errands on her own. She’d done it in every other country we’d lived in.
But in Kotor, asking a tall, stone-faced vendor how to weigh and bag vegetables at the market felt like too much. For the first few weeks, she wouldn’t even try.
Then, slowly, walking the streets of that small historic town on her own, she met Maria, a woman in her 30s who sold boat tours outside the old town walls. The two of them became fast friends. Through Maria, Laaha’s whole sense of the place shifted; she started to see the warmth underneath what had first read as coldness.
Two months later, on Laaha’s birthday, Maria knocked on our apartment door with a gift and a card. When we left Kotor and Laaha had to say goodbye to her, the tears on both their faces are something I’ll never forget.
A beautiful relationship was formed, but it didn’t come easy and it didn’t come right away. It took the unglamorous skill of staying in a hard moment without an exit, which is what I fear children losing. The ability to sit with not knowing. To be bored without immediately filling the boredom. To be in a room with someone you don’t understand yet and stay long enough to start understanding them, instead of closing a tab.
That skill doesn’t come from a curriculum. It comes from being intentionally, repeatedly placed in situations slightly beyond what’s comfortable, and not being rescued from them too quickly, by a parent, an app or an answer that arrives before the question has finished forming.
I think about Mahaan again, a year later, in Syros, a small Greek island where we lived for three months. I put him, 10 years old by then, in charge of figuring out our washing machine. There were no instructions in English, just a panel of Greek symbols he didn’t recognise.
He sat in front of that machine for the better part of an afternoon, working through what each symbol meant by trial and error. When he finally got the first load running, the look on his face wasn’t relief. It was pride, the specific kind that only comes from solving something nobody handed you the answer to.
I don’t know exactly what the world will look like by the time my kids are adults. Nobody does, and I think that’s the honest starting point for any conversation about how to raise kids right now, AI or no AI.
What I want for them isn’t a head start on a particular set of facts. It’s the capacity to walk into a totally unfamiliar situation – a new country, a new job, a relationship with someone who sees the world differently – and stay there long enough to figure it out.
That capacity gets built the same way it always has: through repeated, real, occasionally uncomfortable practice. Not through a tool that does it for you.
So, as difficult as it is, what I’m working on is resisting the urge to hand my kids the answer the moment they look stuck. For now, while we still get to choose, that struggle is ours to protect.
Rekha Magon is the co-founder and chief education officer at Boundless Life, a global platform enabling families to live, work and learn around the world. She has spoken at SXSW, and her work has earned multiple recognitions, including Canada’s 9th EdTech Innovation Award, Skift Innovation Awards, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026 and a Finalist for Emerging Leader of the Year Education Pioneer Award.
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The Democratic National Committee is betting the world’s biggest sporting event can help build its voter base.
The DNC is launching a nationwide voter registration effort for Sunday’s World Cup final, dispatching organizers, volunteers and campaign staff to FIFA Fan Zones, sports bars and community watch parties with the goal of registering more than 3,000 new Democratic voters.
The effort underscores how both political parties are increasingly viewing major sporting events as opportunities to reach voters — particularly young Americans who may be less likely to attend traditional political events but are gathering in large numbers around the monthlong tournament. In the case of the World Cup final, more than 80,000 people are expected to attend in person.
“From outside FIFA Fan Zones and at World Cup watch parties to bars, restaurants and parks, we’ll spend the weekend registering thousands of new Democrats and having conversations about how we win races up and down the ballot,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.
The weekend push spans nearly two dozen states, with Democratic organizers attending events in battlegrounds including Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida. In Arizona, Democrats plan registration efforts in Phoenix, Chandler, Tempe, Tucson and Yuma.
The campaign builds on the DNC’s broader “When We Count” initiative focused on young voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Unlike traditional registration drives centered on college campuses, the program deliberately targets young Americans who are already in the workforce.
About one-third of the program’s fellows are native Spanish speakers.
The party is pairing the registration effort with a four-part national training series that it says will equip more than 1,500 organizers, campaign staff and volunteers with best practices for partisan voter registration.
Professional sports leagues have increasingly embraced civic engagement around elections, and the NBA and WNBA are some of the most visible examples, using arenas as polling locations and partnering on nonpartisan voter registration drives. And conservatives have previously registered voters at NASCAR events.
“The power in sport is that people gather. It creates a sense of belonging,” said Lee Igel, a professor of global sport at New York University. “If you want to get 3,000 people registered to vote at a watch party for a sports mega-event, you’d be hard-pressed not to get closer to 30,000 people” registered.
Igel said the DNC’s initiative takes that relationship between sports and civic participation a step further.
“There’s some precedent when it comes to voting and sports,” he said. “But this picks up on a more recent trend of politicians, elected officials and the organizations they’re connected to tapping into the power of sport.”
He pointed to leaders across the political spectrum, including President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as examples of politicians increasingly recognizing sports’ cultural reach.
“Sport is fun and games,” Igel said, “but the attention it attracts in communities — from eyeballs to people in person — is enormous.”
Andy Burnham’s government intends to scrap Keir Starmer’s plan to implement digital ID, a close ally to the incoming prime minister has confirmed.
Dropping the controversial scheme is part of Burnham’s bid to put his own stamp on government and distance himself from his predecessor’s most divisive policies.
Starmer announced plans for a digital ID scheme last September to crack down on illegal working, but it sparked fears about whether personal data might then be at risk.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC, deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell said scrapping the programme move would allow ministers to be “laser focused on the cost of living, laser focused on rewiring the economy, rewiring the political system in this country, and clearing the decks, if you like, from of all of the other things that might distract and take away from that in terms of the focus of the government”.
Asked how much money would now be freed up for other means, Powell said: “The OBR said it would cost, I think, £1.8 billion over the over the coming years.
“That’s not an insignificant amount of money. That will obviously be re-prioritised and redistributed in different ways.
“But as I say, it’s not just about the money.
“It’s actually about the attention and the focus, so that the the whole of government machinery can work in service of the agenda and the vision that the Labour government is setting out under under Andy Burnham, and I think that is important.”
She also claimed Burnham will deliver on the Labour manifesto by being “bolder” and “clearer” about what the party stands for.
Powell confirmed there would be a “change of emphasis” on North Sea oil and gas drilling under Burnham as well.
There has been widespread speculation that the new prime minister might issue new drilling licences to boost the UK’s energy security, even though the 2024 Labour manifesto pledged not to.
Though she did not confirm what Burnham intends to do on the divisive topic, Powell said the new PM would take a “more pragmatic approach” towards North Sea drilling.
Powell said: “We’ve been really clear that the way to achieve, in the long term, energy security and lower bills is by ensuring that we do have our our own homegrown, clean, much cheaper energy.
“But we’ve been absolutely clear that North Sea gas and oil is an important part of that transition.
“It’s an important part of the mix, and I think what Andy’s talking about is taking a more pragmatic approach and working with the industry to make sure that it can contribute to that transition and to the the mix that is needed over the long term.
“So let’s see what he’s got to say about that. But I don’t think it’s a change of policy. It’s more a change of emphasis.”
Lucy Powell has claimed speculation about Andy Burnham’s cabinet has been “horrible” in an attack on the media.
The deputy Labour leader blamed the press for reporting on the briefings coming from within the party about who might be in the incoming prime minister’s top team.
Burnham was confirmed as the leader of the Labour Party on Friday after running uncontested to replace Keir Starmer, and will be announced as prime minister on Monday.
He said last week he has not yet decided on his ministers because he thinks it would “cause complete chaos if you start half a reshuffle before you’re in position”.
His refusal to confirm who might be in his cabinet and at the heart of his government operation has led to widespread confusion – even though Burnham has pledged to make Labour more united and to stop in-fighting.
BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg asked Powell, a close ally to Burnham, about the particularly mixed reports about whether energy secretary Ed Miliband might get a senior position.
The presenter said: “Burnham has promised to end factionalism in the Labour Party but there has been quite a lot of briefing already, a lot of briefing against Ed Miliband.
“It doesn’t bode, very well, does it, for Andy Burnham’s promise of ending all that unhappiness and in-fighting within the party?”
Powell replied: “There’s been a lot of speculation in the media about various individuals which has been really quite horrible, to be honest, and unedifying.
“I know that as political journalists, maybe you’ve not had the story of the Labour leadership crisis to write about for the last few weeks, because actually I’m really proud of the way in which the Labour Party has come together in a consensus around Andy Burnham being the next leader.”
She claimed the media is “looking for other personalities and other disagreements” to write about.
Kuenssberg hit back: “Journalists write about things they are told about.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, former Tory minister, then criticised Powell’s response while sitting on Kuenssberg’s panel.
“Lucy Powell, an admirable person in many ways, was saying something she knows isn’t true at the end, when she said these stories are coming from disgruntled journalists because they didn’t have a big enough story to write,” he said.
Rees-Mogg added that reporters “do not make things up” and only write “what they are given by politicians”.
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Did you know there are at least three different types of vaginal orgasm?
These include a “wave”, a “volcano,” and an “avalanche” (wave seems to be the most common).
But before we get to classifying the big Os, it’s probably a good idea to work out how to get them in the first place.
Though sex experts stress that fixating on climax can make sex less enjoyable overall, the “gender orgasm gap” remains undeniable. Some research found that within heterosexual couples, men report orgasm in 95% of sexual encounters, while heterosexual women say they only “finish” about 65% of the time.
There’s even a gendered masturbation gap.
A 2024 study, conducted by the University of Essex’s psychology lecturer Dr Megan Klabunde and psychology undergraduate student Emily Dixon, may have found why some women orgasm more than others, however.
Their study suggested it could be down to “interoception”.
What’s “interoception”?
Interoception is a way of understanding your own body’s internal senses. These include being attuned to your heartbeat, hunger levels, bladder fullness, and more.
The Cleveland Clinic says that rather than being a predetermined ability, interoception is “a learned skill that you develop as you grow” – though it can be impaired by certain conditions.
The 2024 study, published in the journal Brain Sciences, asked 360 women to fill in questionnaires about their sexual satisfaction and interoception levels.
Participants were 20% more likely to orgasm through masturbation than partnered sex, and these climaxes were deemed more satisfying, too.
Women who self-reported more frequent and satisfying orgasms were also consistently likelier to describe higher levels of attunement with their body.
“Our study empirically demonstrates that women need to get out of their heads and into their bodies in order to have more frequent and satisfying orgasms,” Dr Klabunde said.
“Orgasms are more frequent and satisfying when a woman is able to focus on how her body is feeling… This study is important because most research looking at orgasms in women have focused on their dysfunction,” rather than focusing on what does work.
How can I improve my interoception?
Dr Klabunde added, “The ability for women to focus their attention on their internal bodily sensations, and trust these sensations, was… associated with increased orgasm satisfaction. Therefore, it is important for women and their partners to trust the woman’s internal bodily experiences during sexual encounters.
“This is critical for fostering orgasmic satisfaction for both solo but also especially for partnered sexual contexts.”
The Cleveland Clinic added that specialised therapy and practicing mindfulness can help, too.
They ended, “Have patience with yourself as you learn new techniques. This learned skill takes time to develop and doesn’t come naturally to everyone”.
Boris Johnson has hit out at Reform UK for consistently taking credit for getting Brexit over the line.
The former Conservative prime minister, who campaigned in the 2019 general election on the promise to “get Brexit done”, claimed Nigel Farage’s party did not do a “bean” towards actually securing our EU exit.
Both Johnson and Farage were part of the Leave movement in the run-up to and shortly after EU referendum in 2016, though on different campaigns – the then-Tory MP Johnson was in Vote Leave while Farage led Leave.EU.
Farage and his party Reform UK – formerly the Brexit Party – have consistently attacked Johnson’s legacy after migration soared once the UK left the EU.
Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips asked Johnson on Sunday: “Are you at all embarrassed by the way that Reform and others are using the term ‘Boriswave’?
“Because it is true that net migration, for better or worse, has been higher as a consequence of decisions you took than any time in our history.”
Johnson said Brexit gave the UK power to “control immigration”.
He continued: “We have the power under Brexit, and under Brexit, which I secured and which those people didn’t – they didn’t even exist!”
“They did not have a single MP,” he said, referring to Reform UK. “They did not do a bean to get Brexit through the House of Commons. Not a bean.
“ And they swank around claiming to have been responsible for it.
“They did, they did nothing to deliver Brexit.
“The hard Brexit I went through the House of Commons I want to move, enables us, enables this country not only to have as few people because we want overall, but also under our laws, to decide who comes from where.”
Reform UK spokesman hit back at that criticism, telling HuffPost UK: “Boris only had his majority because we put country before party in 2019.
“Boris then broke Britain so badly that the Conservatives haven’t led a single opinion poll since.”
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
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From our sense of fashion, to our interiors, injecting playfulness and child-like imagination into your style is in – and it’s perhaps no wonder the trend has taken off given the impending doom of war, or the imminent threat of beyond-return climate change, that overshadows our lives.
So, if your home still feels decidedly like the third floor flat it is rather than an enchanted fairy cottage, I’ve made it my job to find 27 pieces of furniture and decor that will transform your space faster than you can say ‘bibbidi-bobbidi-boo’.
This way to floating through life.
Boris Johnson has claimed Donald Trump could “be the guy” to force Vladimir Putin to end his illegal war in Ukraine.
The ex-prime minister made the bizarre claim more than a year after the US president pledged to bring the conflict to a close in just 24 hours.
The war entered its fifth year back in February.
Trump also famously kicked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy out of the White House last year after his team attacked his outfit and said Kyiv did not “hold any cards” in the war.
Since then, the US has oscillated between pushing Kyiv to give up more land to Moscow in the name of peace, and supporting Ukraine’s ongoing fight against Putin’s land grab.
But, speaking on Sky News, Johnson – who is an ardent supporter of Ukraine – said: “I think that, paradoxically, you know, Trump could be the guy really, to put the hard word on Putin and get this thing done, and there’s no doubt that when it comes to foreign policy initiatives, this is a guy who’s willing to do some, some pretty tough things, right?
“Nobody thought he’s the first American president to use violence against Iran, right?”
Trump chose to join Israel in launching strikes on Iran earlier this year, triggering a significant international conflict and sending the global economy into turmoil.
Johnson continued: “You know, whatever you think about about his logic and how that’s worked out, you know, he is I think he is the guy and I’ve said this to him and I said this repeat.
“I think, paradoxically, although I think that his instincts on on Ukraine haven’t always was language about Ukraine hasn’t always been, you know, put it mildly on, you know, totally on all fours with what I think I think he could he really could fix it. And that’s what I’ve always told him.”
Johnson also acknowledged that Trump has not actually been promoting a push for Ukraine’s sovereignty.
He said: “It would be a very powerful thing if the United States declared that it was, a strategic objective of the United States for Ukraine to be free, sovereign and independent country.”
“No, but you don’t hear that much from Washington, right? And number two, that Ukraine should be part of Nato.”
Asked by presenter Trevor Phillips how Trump responds when Johnson advocates for Ukraine, he said: “I mean, he’s, very good at listening. He’s very good listening.”
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Voters continue to punish Nigel Farage amid the row over his finances as Reform UK slips back in the polls.
According to strategic insight company Opinium, the right-wing party has fallen back to its lowest rate since 2024, having held a comfortable lead with voters for more than a year.
In a survey for the Observer, the pollsters found Reform are currently on 23%.
That’s just one percentage point away from Labour, who on 22%, are at their highest level since April 2026.
It comes as party leader Farage is fighting a by-election he triggered in his constituency of Clacton.
He chose to step down as an MP earlier this month amid heightened scrutiny over his finances.
A parliamentary probe into a £5 million donation he received shortly before he ran in the 2024 general election – but failed to declare – is currently on pause while he is outside of the Commons.
Farage claims he is fighting in a “people versus the establishment” contest, but all major parties have refused to put up a candidate.
The Reform UK leader is now mainly in a race against comedy candidate Count Binface.
Opinium also found the Conservatives are enjoying their highest poll rating since April 2025 on 20%.
Meanwhile, the Green Party lags behind on 14% and the Liberal Democrats are on 11%.
The survey comes after researchers at Survation put both at Labour and Reform UK at 24%.
Polling by More in Common from last week also undermined Farage’s claim not to be part of the establishment.
It showed that 45% of the public believe privately-educated Farage, who is a former MEP and stockbroker, is himself part of the establishment.
That is slightly below Keir Starmer (52%) and Kemi Badenoch (54%), but more than the 41% who think incoming prime minister Andy Burnham is in the establishment.
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Zack Polanski’s Green Party is at risk of losing voters back to the Labour Party with Andy Burnham as PM (Alamy)
10 min read
As the Green Party embarks on a media blitz to challenge Andy Burnham ahead of his arrival in Downing Street, an internal strategic debate is intensifying over what his premiership means for the party’s future.
After months of benefiting from disillusionment with Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, Green figures are now grappling with a new political landscape. Burnham is viewed as a more formidable communicator who is potentially more capable of winning back progressive voters while also occupying some of the political territory the Greens have started to claim since Zack Polanski became leader last year.
That has prompted a wider discussion inside the party about everything from electoral strategy to political messaging, and even how the Greens define themselves in an increasingly fragmented five-party system.
According to research by Thinks Insight & Strategy for PoliticsHome earlier this month, Burnham will put Labour in a stronger position to win back voters it risks losing to Polanski’s Greens.
Professor Rob Ford, Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester, agreed that Green voters are some of the “lowest hanging fruit” available to Labour under Burnham.
“They’re the lost Labour voters who are most likely to say they’re still open to voting Labour,” he said.
“They’re most likely to say that the reasons that they shifted away from Labour are that the party’s got too right-wing and they don’t like Keir Starmer, and they also give Andy Burnham very positive approval ratings. If you’re Zack Polanski or a Green activist, that’s bad news for you.”
A senior Green Party source agreed that Burnham presents a new challenge.
“We need to review our political strategy in light of Burnham, and part of the reason for that is we don’t yet know which version of Burnham is going to turn up,” they said.
“If it will be a Blairite prime minister… He’s also had a very different approach as Manchester mayor, and what he will look like in practice is a big question.”
The source added that the Greens could not assume the political conditions that fuelled their recent rise would continue.
“The path and the space the party has been in in the last few months is not necessarily going to be the same as it’s going to be in the next couple of years,” they continued.
One of the biggest questions now facing the party is whether its electoral strategy should evolve.
The Greens’ existing ‘target to win’ approach focuses activists and resources on constituencies where the party believes it has a realistic chance of victory under first-past-the-post, rather than spreading campaign efforts evenly across the country.
The success of that strategy has largely been built around Labour-facing urban seats, but some figures inside the party are questioning whether Reform’s rise means those priorities should change.
The senior Green source said there was an “ongoing discussion” about where the party should focus under Burnham.
“Any party will be recalibrating where it’s at, and there are big decisions for the party to make around where it focuses the next general election,” they said.
“So there’s a debate over whether the party focuses largely on urban seats that would otherwise be Labour, or does it also have a focus on seats that would otherwise be Reform.
“There’s a lot of concern in the party that we have got to play our role in stopping Reform, rather than the target seats that would otherwise be Labour. Otherwise, we’re not part of the solution of avoiding the huge risks of a Farage-led government.”
However, an official Green Party source insisted the debate should not be seen as an either-or choice.
“The Greens are performing well in elections in urban areas and also smaller towns,” they said.
“We are performing well in Reform-facing seats like Hastings and Kettering. Reform and Green voters both want change; both are fed up with the status quo. We are and will be making our case in both Labour and Reform-facing areas on why the Greens’ version of change is the one most likely to deliver real change. Policies such as rent controls, wealth taxes and public ownership are popular with Labour and Reform voters.”
They added that Green and Reform voters had both had enough of the “status quo” and “the super-rich getting ever richer”.
“On the substance of these issues, Burnham looks like he’s more likely to keep things broadly the same, with better comms,” they said.
The challenge is not simply deciding which constituencies to target, but whether the party can sustain a national message while fighting very different opponents. Several figures described a tension between emphasising pro-migrant and multicultural politics in Labour-facing cities while leaning more heavily into anti-establishment arguments in seats where Reform is the principal challenger.
Although the national headquarters decides where campaign resources are allocated, local parties retain considerable freedom over campaigning tactics, cross-party deals and power-sharing.
Ford believes prioritising Reform-facing seats alongside Labour-facing target seats would be a “borderline delusional strategy” and an “act of electoral self-harm”.
“The Greens have actually been gifted in 2024, much like the Lib Dems were after the 2019 result, a really obvious electoral map,” he said.
“There are 40 seats where the Greens start in second place, which means there are 40 constituencies where they can start campaigning on day one of a general election campaign, saying if you don’t like the incumbent MP, we’re the most viable local alternative.
“Every single seat is currently held by a Labour MP, and most of them look quite similar to each other. They’re mostly city-centre urban seats. They’re mostly young. They’re mostly ethnically diverse.”
The Greens plan to use Burnham’s first weeks in office to draw political dividing lines with Labour and challenge him over issues including rent controls, wealth taxation, public ownership and arms exports to Israel.
According to an internal Green Party memo seen by The New Statesman, the party plans to specifically target Shabana Mahmood if she is appointed as Burnham’s chancellor next week, accusing her of “fiscal constraint and economic orthodoxy” while also taking aim at her controversial immigration reforms.
Sources close to former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas reject any suggestion that the party has shifted away from its environmentalist roots and more towards the left under Polanski. Instead, they argue that the party has always had a left-wing policy agenda, and its evolution in tone over the years has been strategic.
During Lucas’s most recent stint as party co-leader alongside Jonathan Bartley between 2016 and 2018, the emphasis was on gradually building credibility while Labour under Jeremy Corbyn occupied much of the radical left-wing political space. Under the leadership of Siân Berry, and later Carla Denyer and Ramsay, the focus increasingly shifted towards identifying winnable parliamentary seats and maximising representation at Westminster.
The arrival of former Labour members, campaigners and staff to the Green camp during Starmer’s premiership has accelerated that process. Party sources credit those arrivals with bringing valuable campaign experience that the Greens previously lacked. However, some also worry that Labour’s political culture does not always translate easily to a party that has traditionally built itself from local government upwards.
One senior source warned against narrowing the party’s appeal with more former Corbynites joining the Green Party each month.
“The traditional Green style is one that can have wide appeal, and it’s really important that the party does not create a narrow box for itself that’s just the ex-Corbynites, but that can have an appeal to a wide electorate,” they said.
Another senior Green figure said the debate was not about left versus right, but that the “genuine tension” in the party was about political strategy and to what extent the Greens should be thinking strategically about tactical voting and preparing for a progressive alliance with other left-leaning parties, including Labour.
They said there was a “degree of naivety” in the Green Party when it comes to electoral politics.
“There are a lot of people not understanding that we’re in new territory with a five-party system under first past the post,” they continued.
“People are voting tactically more than ever. People don’t go out and vote simply on the basis of politics and policies; they vote for who they believe can win, or who will keep out the people they really don’t want to see win.”
Party figures distinguish between formal electoral pacts (where parties agree not to run against each other in certain seats), which remain deeply unpopular inside the party, and a broader progressive alliance which could include parties working together after elections in councils, agreeing on common policy goals, or parties signalling they are open to governing together if the numbers allow.
The Greens began exploring electoral pacts with Labour during the Corbyn years, but were refused. They later struck an electoral agreement with the Liberal Democrats in 2019.
Another Green figure reflected on earlier attempts to work with Labour, saying that if Corbyn had agreed to do a deal with the Greens in 2017, “we might well have seen a Labour-led progressive government” and “wouldn’t have had the 10 years of disaster that we had”.
“But Jeremy just didn’t want to do it, and [then-Lib Dem leader] Tim Farron, at the time, who we met with, didn’t want to do it either, which was heartbreaking.”
There was considerable appetite among Green councillors for cross-party deals following the local elections in May this year.
Green Party councillor James McAsh has become the leader of Southwark Council, with the Greens forming a joint administration with the Lib Dems in the London borough. McAsh, who defected from the Labour Party earlier this year, told PoliticsHome that he and many other Labour-Green defectors were open to the idea of working with Labour going forward.
“Early indications are suggesting [Burnham] would favour a more collaborative approach,” he said.
“We could be in a place where Labour and the Greens are working together more closely in various places across the country.
“Working with the Labour Party is very much still an option in the future, because I think that the progressive bloc is out there, which includes people who are in the Labour Party, and rebuilding the coalition – that 50 years ago existed exclusively within the Labour Party – as a multi-party bloc is in my view the best way to defeat Reform.”
Enthusiasm from the Green leadership for formal national pacts has cooled in recent years, though Polanski has said he would potentially be open to working with Burnham in some capacity.
Former leader Lucas recently told The House she remained sceptical of reviving the idea of a progressive alliance, arguing the Greens’ “fingers have been really burnt by it” in the past.
An official party source said: “The Greens will always have a clear, distinct identity. Zack has made clear that he couldn’t work with Starmer and is open to seeing if there are areas where the Greens can work with Andy Burnham.
“But it is also becoming clearer through his early policy indications and appointments of many people associated with the Blair era that Labour doesn’t look like it’s serious in any way about shifting wealth and power towards working-class people.
“In terms of electoral priorities, it is to challenge everywhere, as a national political party, our message is a broad change message, with appeal across the board, to protect the planet, challenge the power and wealth of the super-rich and give it back to the people.”
Green figures broadly agree that Burnham represents a more serious political challenge than Starmer did. While there is widespread acceptance that the party will need to adapt its strategy, there is far less agreement over what that strategy should look like.
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