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Several Labour MPs are in talks about defecting to the Greens, but are seeking guarantees they would be backed electorally by their new party, the Guardian has been told.
Zack Polanski, the leader of the Greens in England and Wales, has said publicly that he has chatted to Labour MPs about the idea of switching sides, with the leftwing party enjoying a surge in membership and having overtaken Labour in some recent opinion polls.
A series of other senior Green figures have confirmed that talks with several MPs are happening, but that none are yet at the stage of wanting to commit.
“We already have a lot of experience of Labour councillors defecting to us, so this is not a surprise,” one said. “But it takes time. You get to know people, and realise they would be much happier with us, but you never know when, or even if, it will happen. It’s a very personal thing.”
Another senior Green figure said one hold-up had been Labour MPs wanting guarantees in advance that they would be re-selected for their seat at the next general election, and given support from the party to win again. “This is part of a lot of the conversations – they want the guarantees,” they said.
“But we’re such a decentralised party, it’s not as easy for us to do as it is for other parties.”
The names of Labour MPs involved in the talks have not been made public, but several Green and Labour figures pointed to the same small number of backbenchers, all of whom are on the left of Labour and who face a likely electoral threat from the Green party in their constituency.
However, none are understood to be seen by Labour whips as an imminent defection risk.
A series of left-leaning Labour MPs are increasingly dissatisfied with the direction of the party under Keir Starmer, and are attracted by what they see as the greater radicalism and dynamism of Polanski.
Such is the scale of dissent with Starmer within Labour that one obstacle to defections is the fact that some MPs think it is possible he could be replaced soon by a leader they might find more appealing.
Other Green figures argue that defections are also not a priority for the party given how well it is doing anyway. After quadrupling its number of MPs to four at the 2024 general election, the party won last month’s Gorton and Denton byelection, with Hannah Spencer beating Reform UK and pushing Labour into third.
“Zack has always and is still having lots of conversations with Labour MPs, and they are happening quite regularly,” one Green official said. “But we’re much more interested in where the next byelection is going to be than what would be the very large step of a Labour MP crossing the floor.”
Speaking to the House magazine earlier this week, Polanski said he was talking to a “handful” of Labour MPs, adding: “If you speak to some Labour MPs, some days it seems like it’s going to be their last day in the party, and other days they’ve seen a glimmer of light and think everything’s going to be OK.”
Another senior Green said they expected someone to move eventually: “The Labour benches always look so miserable. Given they can look over and see that we’re such a happy team, why wouldn’t they want to come?”
