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158

Green Party wins Gorton and Denton by-election with Labour pushed into third by Reform (www.bbc.com)

submitted 2 days ago by danielquinn@lemmy.ca to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

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[–] thlibos@thelemmy.club 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Serious questions, not snark: Why does it matter who came in 2nd vs 3rd and why is the story being titled "Greens crush Labor" almost everywhere I see it? Is there something transformational about this single MP election?

[–] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'd say that it's for a few reasons:

In this country's broken electoral system, "tactical" voting is quite common. Until now, Labour has been heavily relying on the idea that they'll be elected by default: the not-Conservative choice. When Reform ate the Tories' lunch, they continued to push that they were "the only party that can beat Reform". This result suggests that this reasoning no longer applies and indicates that Labour's dominance as an alternative to the right-wing forces in the UK is ending.
By pushing the traditional parties into 3rd, 4th, and 5th place, this election may mark the end of these guys in favour of the new challenger parties that're both advocating for more direct action to combat the problems we have.
Reform took 2nd, consuming the Tory vote almost entirely indicating that they're the force to beat. This makes the revelations of #1 all the more relevant for those of us who think that Reform are dangerous fanatics.
The Greens are unabashedly socialists and this result indicates that their position is resonating with voters far more than Labour's "Tory light" platform. When the "labour" party gets spanked by a party that's advocating for wealth taxes, that's a Big Deal™.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 5 points 1 day ago

Also on top of the other comment, the other major thing is that this happened in Manchester. A labour stronghold, and a seat that was supposed to be represented by Andy Burnham but then Starmer decided he was a threat so wouldn't allow him in the party. This result is the first clear evidence that the left are sick of labour and they're ridiculousness.

If labour had come in second it would have actually been a bad thing because it would mean that the Greens were split in the left-wing vote, but the fact that they were pushed down into third place indicates that they are not splitting the vote they are replacing it. That's huge.

And it's a win-win for liberal voters because either the greens will replace labour or this vote will give labour the kick up the arse that they need. Either way it demonstrates a desire for far more left left-wing policy than is currently being offered.