LONDON — The Green Party has long pushed for bolder action on the environment. Now another issue is creating a dividing line with their political opponents: Gaza.
The Greens, who launched their general election campaign on Thursday, believe Labour voters in particular are torn over the ongoing conflict.
Keir Starmer’s party enjoys a commanding lead in national polls, but the Green Party sees splits inside Labour, including over the Middle East, as key to winning a handful of seats on 4 July.
“We think the U.K. government — the current government and the incoming government — need to take seriously their responsibilities on the international stage, pushing Israel to make sure that they act within international law. The evidence is pretty clear that they are not doing that at the moment,” Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, told POLITICO.
Speaking after the party’s campaign launch in Bristol this week, Denyer said the Green Party would press any future Labour government to take a firmer stance on the deepening humanitarian crisis in the region.
The Greens have called for a “full bilateral cease-fire” and the suspension of arms exports to Israel.
Labour backs a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, but not the end of arms exports, and Leader Keir Starmer has faced pressure from within the party to take a tougher line on Israel’s ongoing military operations. He faced a rebellion from dozens of his own MPs late last year on the issue.
Starmer said this week he would tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop” attacks on Gaza, after an airstrike killed 35 people.
“Obviously, I’m not going to have the keys to Number 10,” Denyer said. “But with a handful of Green MPs, as we’ve already seen with [sole Green MP] Caroline Lucas in Westminster, having a Green in the room has allowed her to ask questions, put forward motions, put things on the agenda that were simply not on the agenda before. That’s what Greens can do.”
She cautioned that the role of any Green MP is not just to “lobby other people” but deliver “common sense policies.”
Disaffection
The Greens are challenging Labour in a small number of key seats at the general election, including the new marginal constituency of Bristol Central, where Denyer hopes to unseat Shadow Culture Secretary Thangam Debonnaire. The Green Party made substantial gains in Bristol at the local elections in May.
The party is hoping to win over voters, particularly on the left, disaffected by Labour’s decision to ditch its headline £28 billion green spending pledge as well as its stance on the war in the Middle East.
UK NATIONAL PARLIAMENT ELECTION POLL OF POLLS
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For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls.
The Greens have pledged to reform the tax system — including introducing a “modest” wealth tax on people with £10 million or more in wealth — and have put climate, nature, and reforming the NHS at the forefront of their domestic pitch to voters.
“Real change means not cosying up to the fossil fuel lobby and abandoning commitments on climate targets,” co-leader Adrian Ramsay — who is contesting the Suffolk seat of Waveney Valley — said Thursday.