In Gorton and Denton, where the Greens overturned Labour’s 2024 majority of 13,415 at a by-election in February, campaigners said that opposing “cruel” immigration policies was a vote-winner.
Kerry McCarthy, the Labour MP for Bristol East, a Green target for the next election, said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration reforms — including changes to indefinite leave to remain — are a point of contention in her constituency.
The rhetoric coming out of the Home Office “creates a one-way narrative, that we are only about control and are not capable of compassion,” she said.
“It goes to voters’ values,” she warned. “And our messaging doesn’t land with Reform voters — they will never believe that we are trying to bring down immigration, even when we’ve actually been remarkably successful at doing so — but it does land with Green voters, who think we’re being really harsh.”
All about the likes
Polanski also appears to have met his match when it comes to digital communication.
The Green Party leader’s political broadcasts that racked up millions of likes and shares across social media were seen as a departure from the stale videos coming out of Labour HQ under Starmer.