National Politics 🟢 The Green Party

[Sheik Djibouti]

I've read that story, and I fail to see anything sectarian or extremist about the Green Party. That is one of the biggest pile of right-wing garbage I have read for a while.

The Greens relentlessly spread the lie that the Jewish state has committed a genocide in Gaza - It's not a lie. It is a genocide - no two ways about it. But it doesn't make you anti-Jewish, in the same way being anti-ISIS or Al-Qaeda, doesn't make you anti-Muslim.

As for Polanski being antisemitic - you do realise he is actually Jewish right?

Jewish person critcising Israel and the Netanyahu regime just makes some peoples heads

Reform and the extreme right are spreading this because they are running scared. It's the Project Fear de rigueur.

As for M's question about extremism, it's a very pertinent one, but I wouldn't expect an answer. If you think that right wing extremism is only reserved for those niche psychopaths with a penchant of Nazi paraphernalia and salutes, then I guess it would be hard to define in any other terms

 

[chuckbert]

Why is left-wing extremism the problem and not just extremism?

Genuinely interested in the answer here.

I think that people saying “left wing extremism” wouldn’t know “left wing extremism” if it smacked them between the eyes. Where’s the Baader-Meinhof/RAF activity going on in Gorton and Hyde?

 

[Londox]

Jewish person critcising Israel and the Netanyahu regime just makes some peoples heads

Reform and the extreme right are spreading this because they are running scared. It's the Project Fear de rigueur.

As for M's question about extremism, it's a very pertinent one, but I wouldn't expect an answer. If you think that right wing extremism is only reserved for those niche psychopaths with a penchant of Nazi paraphernalia and salutes, then I guess it would be hard to define in any other terms

What are Reform "running scared" from, exactly?

They're top of the polls. Astounding for a new party.

 

[boogaloo]

Greens win in Gorton and Denton, and as predicted Farage and Goodwin resort to the Trump playbook with unfounded accusations of cheating, rather than accepting defeat gracefully. This is typical Reform - descending into the gutter. I would say they are showing their true colours, but they've been like this for years.

Well done Hannah!

 

[holdsteady]

Obviously a very good night for the Green party, no denying that. Interesting to see where they go from here.

As an aside is that turnout, which seems low, standard for a by election? Was a high profile one so I would have thought it might be a bit higher but don't have a clue about what the average is for them.

 

[stokeu]

So the Green Party now have more MPs elected than Reform have had?

 

[SteMerritt]

as predicted Farage and Goodwin resort to the Trump playbook with unfounded accusations of cheating, rather than accepting defeat gracefully.

Not seen this, do you have any links you can throw my way? Unsurprising though.

 

[stokeu]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/02/27/gorton-and-denton-by-election-results-labour-greens-reform/

Farage: By-election was ‘a victory for sectarian voting and cheating’

Nigel Farage has said the Gorton and Denton by-election was “a victory for sectarian voting and cheating”.

The Reform UK leader made the remarks after the Green Party swept to a comfortable victory in the Greater Manchester constituency, which has a large Muslim population.

Labour, which was defending what used to be a safe seat, was pushed into third – behind Reform in second – on a disastrous night for Sir Keir Starmer.

Zack Polanski’s party was heavily criticised by both Labour and Reform for trading on sectarian politics by pushing a pro-Palestinian agenda.

 

[Carpy]

resort to the Trump playbook with unfounded accusations of cheating

Is referencing independent electoral observers and their observation of "extremly high levels of family voting", which was also widely reported by the likes of Sky News, really unfounded?

You can hate Reform and what they stand for whilst also recognising that people being told who to vote for IN a voting booth should not be happening in a democracy.

 

[Basham Wonderland]

It's great to see the Greens have ripped through the Labour vote. I expect they would do the same (albeit on a much smaller scale) in a wider GE.

That's the Tories gone and Labour going down the pan - it's all looking good for a new direction.

 

[SteMerritt]

Is referencing independent electoral observers and their observation of "extremly high levels of family voting", which was also widely reported by the likes of Sky News, really unfounded?

You can hate Reform and what they stand for whilst also recognising that people being told who to vote for IN a voting booth should not be happening in a democracy.

The link to the Democracy Volunteers report as mentioned in the tweet above...

https://democracyvolunteers.org/major-concerns-over-family-voting-in-gorton-and-denton-poll/

 

[boogaloo]

Not seen this, do you have any links you can throw my way? Unsurprising though.

Here you go. Classless as always.

 

[holdsteady]

Is referencing independent electoral observers and their observation of "extremly high levels of family voting", which was also widely reported by the likes of Sky News, really unfounded?

You can hate Reform and what they stand for whilst also recognising that people being told who to vote for IN a voting booth should not be happening in a democracy.

Here you go. Classless as always.
View attachment 33793

View attachment 33794

Should they not talk about the above then? Seems rather Stalinist to not allow mention of something that should concern us all.

I doubt you would keep quiet if similar happened in a Reform victory.

 

[Basham Wonderland]

Should they not talk about the above then? Seems rather Stalinist to not allow mention of something that should concern us all.

I doubt you would keep quiet if similar happened in a Reform victory.

They'd be falling over eachother to make a reference to1930s Germany, I'm sure.

 

[boogaloo]

Is referencing independent electoral observers and their observation of "extremly high levels of family voting", which was also widely reported by the likes of Sky News, really unfounded?

You can hate Reform and what they stand for whilst also recognising that people being told who to vote for IN a voting booth should not be happening in a democracy.

That's merely a technicality. Yes, family voting (two people going into the same booth) is illegal, but it wouldn't have affected the outcome even if it was policed properly.

People walking into a polling station will already have made their mind up who they are voting for.

And if you think my comparisons to the Trump playbook and the January 6th insurrection at the White House are a bit far-fetched, have a look at this from Reform MP Danny Kruger. Absolutely disgusting.

Danny Kruger claims Reform general election defeat could spark British civil war

Reform MP Danny Kruger has seemingly suggested there could be a British civil war if his party do not win the next general election.

www.thelondoneconomic.com

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

Its probably the complete ' community ' voting rather than just familes I'd imagine.
The Islamist vote isn't decided over whats best for this Country but overseas conflicts where Gaza gets put onto Labours fault but obviously Iran doesn't get a mention .
For me worrying if the so called ' greens' are basically local protest groups loosely banded together under a national policy.

 

[holdsteady]

That's merely a technicality. Yes, family voting (two people going into the same booth) is illegal, but it wouldn't have affected the outcome even if it was policed properly.

People walking into a polling station will already have made their mind up who they are voting for.

And if you think my comparisons to the Trump playbook and the January 6th insurrection at the White House are a bit far-fetched, have a look at this from Reform MP Danny Kruger. Absolutely disgusting.

Danny Kruger claims Reform general election defeat could spark British civil war

Reform MP Danny Kruger has seemingly suggested there could be a British civil war if his party do not win the next general election.

www.thelondoneconomic.com

Its illegal but its just a technicallity? Thats alright then, nothing to be concerned about.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

I woke up his morning and heard the news.

Was really happy that normal sensible people had decided not to elect the racist National Front In Suits.

 

[Peterdev]

There seemed to be a lot of anger that leaflets printed in Urdu that were distributed to Muslims in the area.
I’m not so sure that will work in May

 

[Sheik Djibouti]

Extrapolate the observed family voting across the constiuency and it probably accounts for about 800 votes.

If they were challenged and recorded as spoiled/invalid votes then that means the Green majority would be 3200 as opposed to 4000 on a 36,903 (47.62%) turnout.

It's clearly not right, but it wouldn't have changed a thing

I have no doubt a complaint will be made to the Police and it will be investigated (as it is their role to do so), but it won't change the result.

If Reform want to cry about anything, maybe they should ask themselves how they abjectly failed to get their "silent majority" out to vote in the first place as only 47% of the electorate bothered (slightly down on the GE turnout). Maybe they're not that bothered about democracy after all.

 

[Sheik Djibouti]

There seemed to be a lot of anger that leaflets printed in Urdu that were distributed to Muslims in the area.
I’m not so sure that will work in May

Absoulte nonsense Peter. Multilingual literature has been part and parcel of multicultural societies for decades, why should this be any different? And there was absolutely nothing stopping other parties doing the same either.

Fair play to the Greens for reaching out to all parts of the communities they are aiming to represent.

 

[Wallop]

What concerns me is that two quite extremist parties (imho) have won over 70% of the vote. I've voted for all three main political parties in my time but can't see myself ever voting for the Greens or Reform as I don't agree with their central policy tenants. Major shake-up in politics is clearly happening in this country.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

I guess the vote green placards alongside Palistinian and Pakistani flags with leaflets showing labour politicians alongside Jewish ones as well as Gaza being heavily shown kind of shows you what votes they wanted to get and it worked.
Greens are just a series of protest groups with extremists attached from what I see.

 

[holdsteady]

Extrapolate the observed family voting across the constiuency and it probably accounts for about 800 votes.

If they were challenged and recorded as spoiled/invalid votes then that means the Green majority would be 3200 as opposed to 4000 on a 36,903 (47.62%) turnout.

It's clearly not right, but it wouldn't have changed a thing

I have no doubt a complaint will be made to the Police and it will be investigated (as it is their role to do so), but it won't change the result.

If Reform want to cry about anything, maybe they should ask themselves how they abjectly failed to get their "silent majority" out to vote in the first place as only 47% of the electorate bothered (slightly down on the GE turnout). Maybe they're not that bothered about democracy after all.

Only 800 illegal votes in a by election turn out of 36,903? maybe you are not that bothered about democracy either?

 

[Sheik Djibouti]

What concerns me is that two quite extremist parties (imho) have won over 70% of the vote. I've voted for all three main political parties in my time but can't see myself ever voting for the Greens or Reform as I don't agree with their central policy tenants. Major shake-up in politics is clearly happening in this country.

The best shakeup we could see (and one that has almost unanimous support across the political spectrum on Yellowsforum at least) would be a change to Proportional Representation.

But no party in power ever votes to change the electoral system that put them there . . .

 

[SteMerritt]

Only 800 illegal votes in a by election turn out of 36,903? maybe you are not that bothered about democracy either?

I think you missed the line that said "It's clearly not right"

 

[Sheik Djibouti]

Only 800 illegal votes in a by election turn out of 36,903? maybe you are not that bothered about democracy either?

Did you not read my post . . . you know, the bit where I said it was clearly not right?

And as I said, remove them from the ballot and it does what, exactly?

I know you're looking for reason why Reform came so badly second, but this is not it. It would seem that they simpy didn't offer what people in that constituency wanted, which was hardly surprising, given the candidate they put up.

Just waiting for anyone from the Reform persuasion to admit they got it wrong . . . .

 

[holdsteady]

I think you missed the line that said "It's clearly not right"

I saw that but if you shrug it off as only 2% of the vote then I am not sure you really mean it and I don't think you can slag off anyone else.

 

[EastSussexOx]

Bit rich for Reform to claim cheating when it was them who were investigated by the police for a breach of election rules in this bi-election

I do think the family voting issue does merit investigation and it sound like Polanski is happy to back an investigation into this.

However, given the margin of victory it will not have affected the overall results - even Reform chair David Bull stated it didn't affect the result.

Ultimately this was a great result for the Greens in a seat that was not in there top 120 targets, and they achieved a result massively higher than any polling company predicted - and given You Gov now have Greens as the most popular party among the under 65s this suggests there is great potential for growth before the election.

By contrast it is a complete disaster for Labour - in Corbyn's poor 2019 showing Gorton and Denton voted 67% for Labour, so have lost more than half of their vote in the last seven years, despite throwing the kitchen sink at this one. Generally bi-elections don't necessarily translate going forwards but given a) the higher turnout at this one b) the major messaging from Labour that they are the only party that can stop Reform, this could be the beginning of the end for them unless Starmer goes and they change direction completely.

 

[holdsteady]

Did you not read my post . . . you know, the bit where I said it was clearly not right?

And as I said, remove them from the ballot and it does what, exactly?

I know you're looking for reason why Reform came so badly second, but this is not it. It would seem that they simpy didn't offer what people in that constituency wanted, which was hardly surprising, given the candidate they put up.

Just waiting for anyone from the Reform persuasion to admit they got it wrong . . . .

You are basically saying its not right but it doesn't matter. 2% of votes being cast illegally should worry anyone, whether it affected the result, because at that rate it will effect one eventually.

I never thought Reform would win there, have never actually voted for Reform either. But we will see how the Greens fare else where, Gorton isn't representative of the whole country.