Polanski confirms Labour’s ‘Green apocalypse’ is the plan

On Saturday 11 April, the Independent published what may be an alarming headline to some:

Labour faces a green apocalypse at the local elections

By ‘some‘, we of course mean ‘the Starmer loyalists and councillors who are about to lose their jobs‘. And for them, the following message from the Green Party’s Zack Polanski almost certainly hasn’t helped:

Starmergeddon coming from Polanski

The piece Polanski was responding to was written by the Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul. The Independent was considered left-leaning back in the day, but has never recovered that reputation since it backed the Tory-Lib Dem coalition in the 2015 election.

In his piece, Rentoul wrote:

I suspect that the commentary will overshoot, in that one two-party system, Tory vs Labour, will not be replaced overnight by another, Reform vs Green. As I wrote last week, both Reform and the Greens have ceilings to their support. Farage’s party is not considered respectable and Polanski’s is not considered realistic by enough people to make the total eclipse of the old parties possible yet.

We’ve certainly seen evidence of Reform having a ceiling. The party rose to 30%+ in the polls, but has dipped below that since it accepted a mass exodus of ex-Tories:

The truth about the Greens under Polanski is it’s difficult to say where their ceiling is.

Let’s be real; until about six months ago, we all thought their ceiling was something like 10%. The fact that they’re now leading in some polls means we have to reconsider everything:

Rentoul also said of Polanski and the Greens’ surge:

How should Labour respond? There are two possible answers that will dominate the discussion on 8 May, which I think are both mistaken. One is to replace Starmer. That will have to be done at some point, but as long as the most likely replacement is Angela Rayner I do not think it would help. The other is to copy the Green Party’s policies.

Rentoul went on to say:

Instead of panicking and indulging in a leadership crisis or lurching to the left, Labour needs strategic patience, dealing with the difficult world situation as best it can, explaining the trade-offs and compromises needed. Reform has already peaked in the opinion polls, and the limits of the promises that won it control of several councils last year are becoming more evident. If the Greens win control of councils with a slate of untried paper candidates, they, too, will come up against the constraints of power.

The Greens are not ready to replace the Labour Party yet.

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Labour and the UK at large are in a moment of crisis, in which it’s become clear to everyone that the longstanding ways of doing things don’t work; that the system we live under exists solely to direct wealth upwards, and that there’s very little wealth left to be lost.

As you’d expect, then, a UK political commentator is advising that the party of government should simply fiddle while Rome burns.

The status quo is dead

Our political leaders and commentators can bury their heads in the sand all they like, but the rest of us don’t have that choice.

We’re forced to confront the world as it is because the world is a confrontational force that demands our attention.

We feel it every time our bills increase; we feel it when our retirement age slips further and further away; we feel it when our loved ones suffer as they wait for hospital appointments which may never come.

At the same time, we do hope Labour listen to Rentoul over Polanski. It’s horrible advice, of course, but it will at least ensure it’s clear to everyone what Labour actually stand for.

Because let’s be real; Labour will never deliver actual change, but there is a risk they’ll offer enough phony to promise to retain what’s left of their dwindling vote share.

Featured image via Canva