The Green Party has discovered a revolutionary new political strategy: voting for them will make Labour do what they want, apparently through the sheer force of aspiration and conference hall applause.
Green leader Adrian Polanski told his autumn conference this week that a vote for his party constitutes a binding mandate on Andy Burnham’s Labour government—despite the Greens holding zero seats, zero leverage, and zero evidence that this has ever worked in the history of electoral politics. The logic is airtight: if enough people vote Green, Labour will simply pivot leftward out of pure goodwill.
This assumes Labour’s leadership has been waiting for permission to enact its actual agenda and just needs the Greens to ask nicely. It also assumes the Greens represent a constituency large enough to matter, which is why Polanski spent his speech telling people to vote for him instead of Labour—a strategy that has never once resulted in either party changing course, because voters who want green policy vote Green, and voters who want government vote Labour.
The press release did not explain what happens if Labour ignores him. Presumably he will return next year with an updated theory about the mystical properties of conference speeches and third-place finishes.
Burnham has not commented, which is the correct response to being told that a party with no parliamentary representation has secretly acquired veto power over his government.