Anti-Labour placards backfire for the Green Party

Anti-Labour placards distributed by the Green Party have backfired after voters defaced them to support Sir Keir Starmer.

The Left-wing environmentalists distributed posters in the style of Labour’s campaign material in key target seats that read: “Thinking of voting Labour?”

But the placards were soon turned against the Greens by Labour-supporting voters, who added “absolutely” and “Yes we are!” in marker pen underneath the question.

The posters were distributed in Brighton Pavilion, which the Greens have held since 2010, and Bristol Central, where the party’s co-leader Carla Denyer is looking to oust shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire.

Sharing images of the placards on social media, Ms Debbonaire said: “Candidates in this election must answer for their own campaigning. I’m finding Bristolians’ reactions to the latest from a political party with a particularly poor track record quite funny.

“People are proud to be voting for hope and real change with Labour in Bristol Central.”

Tom Gray, who is standing for Labour in Brighton Pavilion, added: “This is great.

“The Greens produced a leaflet which uses our branding to have a go at us – and people in the city are using it as a Labour poster.”

The party is defending a 19,940-vote majority in Brighton Pavilion, where former leader Caroline Lucas has been MP since 2010.

Bristol Central is a new seat but Ms Debbonaire won one of its predecessors, Bristol West, with a majority of 28,219 in 2019.

The party is looking to take advantage of Left-wing voters’ discontent with Sir Keir pushing Labour away from the policies of Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms Denyer has played a prominent role in that strategy as the party’s representative on televised debates.

Earlier this week, she admitted that still has a gas boiler despite her party’s commitment to reach net zero by 2040.

She insisted she was “in the process of getting quotes” for an air source heat pump before having to put it “on pause” during the campaign.

Referring to her heat pump, Ms Denyer said: “I’ve had to put that on pause during the general election as you can imagine, but I, yeah, literally have quotes in my email inbox.”

Ms Denyer was also forced to delete a tweet celebrating Windrush Day which featured a photograph showing only white people:

Windrush Day has been held on June 22 every year since 2018 to celebrate the contribution that Caribbean migrants and their families have made to Britain.

The Green Party declined to comment on the Windrush Day tweet when approached.