Former Labour MP Tom Watson wrote a detailed analysis of the result of the February 26, 2026 by-election in Gorton and Denton, titled ‘A Party can lose and still learn nothing’, which really needed a reply.
I agree with Watson that letting Andy Burnham stand would have risked Labour losing the by-election and then losing Manchester.
I agree, too, that the Labour Party risks falling into the sort of irrelevance the Conservatives have experienced since Johnson, the Partygate lies and Patel/Braverman cruelty took the party beyond where many of their lifelong voters could continue to support them.
What I’m hearing on the doorstep, and what none of the big parties or commentators seem to be understanding, is that people just want honesty, integrity and hard work on the issues that matter to them from their politicians.
Hannah Spencer, the victorious Green Party candidate, seemed to strike that chord. What voters don’t like is top-down party political b******t and politicians being told how they should vote.
It baffles me that the commentariat concentrated almost exclusively on why Labour and Reform lost, not on how the Greens won.
Voters are disillusioned with Labour because they said they would improve our lives and our country. We are not feeling that improvement; instead we are hearing cruelty, division and blame, akin to the Patel/Braverman rhetoric. From a Labour government, this is shocking and incredibly sad.
Why are you surprised, Tom Watson, that people are losing faith? And voting for a party which listens, works hard on the local issues that matter to people, that isn’t afraid to call people in power to account and, above all, brings a breath of honest, pragmatic and infectious optimism and positivity into politics?
In so many ways, I want Labour to succeed, but it has to be more Labour. In the meantime, look at the impact the Greens are having in town and parish councils and local authorities in every part of the country, with every type of electorate. We Greens are generally liked and respected by our voters and council colleagues alike. We influence policy because we turn up, work hard with expertise and integrity and we care deeply about those we represent.
We do politics differently, because we instinctively work collaboratively across party political boundaries to find common ground, consensus and pragmatic solutions. We do not attack our opponents when we are campaigning but instead focus on what we are doing and hope to do to improve the lives of people living, working and visiting our wards.
We are not tribal, divisive or misogynistic and we are not told how to vote.
Most people care about increasing inequality, their local environment and the future for their children and grandchildren on a planet at risk of climate and ecosystem collapse.
Why is it still a surprise that people are voting Green?
I was canvassing in Exeter over the weekend in areas the Greens have never been before. It was very Reformy-looking in places! Yet we had fascinating conversations and were delighted by how open people were to considering us.
In response to comments on Dorset Greens about Labour MP Clive Lewis’s article in the Guardian on March 8, 2026: ‘While people feel the foundations of their lives are shaking, this deep political crisis will continue,’ someone posted:
“We’ve noticed this in Dorset. Lifelong Conservative voters turned to us in 2022 here in Charmouth and Lyme as they didn’t recognise themselves in a Johnson-led government, profiteering for private gain and disregarding their voters.
People voted tactically in the 2024 general election to get rid of the Conservatives, even in their previous strongholds.
The same is now happening with Labour but with even less tolerance. In Exeter, people seemed very open to voting Green in an area we’ve never been before. Clive Lewis is right – people are disillusioned by politics not working for them and the big parties are fundamentally out of touch.
I get the feeling we are the only genuinely bottom-up force – all the others are constrained by top-down management structures, processes and messages, which are often irrelevant or inappropriate at community level.
This is just another way we do politics differently. The only surprise is why people haven’t noticed.
This letter is reproduced from the original, posted as a response to Tom Watson’s Substack article, with thanks.
