Several Labour MPs in talks with Greens about defecting to the party, sources say | Green party
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/12/labour-mps-in-talks-defecting-green-party-sources-say?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky&CMP=bsky_gu
Posted by JackStrawWitchita
17 Comments
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I will believe it when I see it. The Labour Party are notoriously tribal and very few ever jump ship. There have been some over the years the most high profile being the “Gang of Four” who left the Labour Party to form the SDP.
Not even sure they count as it was a brand new party rather than an existing one.
Greens need to be careful about who they let in, given Labour are full of the worst snidey despicable spineless thick people.
This is no surprise.
My money is on Clive Lewis first, maybe a few of the pro-Corbyn ones that have largely toed the line up to now like Nadia Whittome, Richard Burgon, Bell Ribero Addy etc.
In particular there was the recent report that Labour could be in trouble in London for the locals, so definitely gonna be more urban Labour MPs looking to make the jump.
Cool, if so at least could they do it all at once so there is less political drama. Have the start to 2026 we have had I am surprised anyone wants to true and run the country honestly.
Whatever you think about Starmer it has been a pretty thankless task recently and I don’t envy him.
defecting to another party should trigger a byelection between that MP and the party they are defecting from, an individual shouldnt be able to shift to a different party than that of which they were voted to represent
The Greens need to avoid copying Reform’s model of accepting endless defecting MPs. Reform can’t claim they offer change if their ranks are made up of the very people who got us into this mess, but the Greens will run into the same issue.
>none of the MPs are yet near point of crossing the floor and want guarantees they would be reselected for their seat at next election
And this is also problematic. Defecting because they share the politics of the Greens, or because they just want to keep their job and they’re otherwise fearful of losing their seat?
I have my issues with the Greens, but out of the current options we’ve got, they’re my vote of choice. If they start becoming Labour-lite, I would rethink that choice.
This is great in a non election year but I’d rather than have the lefty friendly labour MPs stay in labour so they can shape the post starmer era
I am loving what the greens are doing as a bulwark against reform and I think Zack and Hannah are great
But they are great in that the focus on inequality and cost of living is a nudging instrument for labour
I want labour to dynamic like Andy Burnhams Manchester is
Where it isn’t fully anti capitalist but it actually harnesses the power of what we have to make things work and better
All for this but only in so far as we get a more lefty labour party but that also can be investment friendly as well as addressing inequality.
Ppl will compare this to Tory>Reform, but there’s a difference between a rebel MP who disagrees with the government direction switching party, than cabinet ministers who were fully behind government plans and then campaign against the result of those plans.
We’re more likely to see people like Clive Lewis, Richard Burgon, Nadia Whittome defect. The Labour equivalent to what Reform did would be David Lammy and Wes Streeting jumping ship lmao.
Maybe the centre can come together after the far right left and far left politicians have latched onto their respective parties.
The Green party manifesto is just as stupid and uncosted, as Reform’s.
Reform and the Green party are the opposite cheeks of the same slapped populist and shallow thinking, arse.
Good if they’re actually some of the remaining left-wing members of Labour but if they’re just centrist careerist politicians looking to jump a sinking ship they can fuck off.
If the greens accept them then they’re no better than reform imo. These people are only looking to save their own skin.
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I think they should be told to swivel frankly. Or if not, do not allow them to be reselected. Get in the queue.
This is starmers labour, tell the left to leave and call them extremist with the arrogance of thinking they won’t actually leave and when both the voters and MPs do it’s surprised pikachu face