Labour Doesn't Need the Greens
A cynic might wonder if Andy Burnham's tack to the left is designed primarily to lure back Green voters. If so it appears to be working. If Labour hold off Zack Polanski's bid for parliament at the Holborn and St Pancras by-election the strategy will be confirmed to have succeeded and secured the left flank of the Labour Party.
As speculation increases that Burnham is keeping his options open for an early election next year it is worth examining the overall state of play. Nigel Farage's troubles have been a gift to Burnham and made Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives competitive, Reform are scrapping with them at a prospective hundred or so seats each.
Currently, based on a standard uniform swing model, Labour on 257 seats would still need the Liberal Democrats projected 82 seats to form a majority government. This would be a far simpler coalition to build without the need for an extended rainbow coalition. Burnham's sympathy for introducing proportional representation means the Liberal Democrats would find supporting Burnham irresistible. The prospect of a Lib-Lab coalition could play well with an electorate that might be wary of voting for the Labour Party if it could see the Green Party in government.
