On Saturday 16th May, newly elected Green MP for Gorton and Denton Hannah Spencer moved camp with a handful of loyal followers on Danes Avenue playground in Hindley. Hindley Green ward is one of the 8 wards in the Makerfield constituency. She sent this call out for support via Instagram.
Many people in the UK, and indeed beyond, are likely to know by now that the contest in Makerfield in the North of England is no ordinary by-election. It is about a potential new and left-leaning leader of the Labour Party challenging Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 and Labour’s candidate, Andy Burnham anti-neoliberal economics and anti-poverty strategy are closer to those of the Green Party than Starmer’s. If elected, he has also pledged to scrap the First-Past-The-Post voting system and has changed his mind about sex and gender in view of the Supreme Court ruling on the Equality Act.
In spite of his popularity across Greater Manchester, including in Wigan, this by-election however may be a tight race between Labour’s candidate and that of Reform UK. Since 2024, Makerfield has become a marginal seat with Labour candidate Josh Simon getting a majority of 5399. Reform UK came a close second. At the May 7th 2026 Local Elections, Reform councillors captured 6 of the 8 wards from Labour in that Constituency alone.
On Sunday 17th, former Green MP Caroline Lucas and leader of the Green Party of England and Wales advised Wigan Green Party members not to stand a candidate, famously urging Leader of her Party Zack Polanski to “put country before party “.
Burnham was finally confirmed as the local Labour Party candidate on Tuesday 19th May. By then, green activists had already decided that Wigan and Leigh Green Party would stand a candidate. This will have been before the selection process had commenced.
On Wednesday 20th May Wigan Green Party announced that male nurse Chris Kennedy had been selected.
On Thursday 21st at 17.29 pm, the Green Party of England and Wales confirmed his candidature.
By the time HQ had issued that confirmation, Chris Kennedy had pulled out of the race “due to personal and family reasons”. It was later reported in the press that he had been de-selected because of an anti-semitic comment on social media regarding the terrorist attack of Jewish ambulances in North London.
Incredibly, given this series of damaging events and much concerns posted since on social media by hundreds of members whose shade of green ranges from eco-socialists to traditional environmentalists about the risks involved in Burnham loosing to Reform by less than the Green vote, we understand that nominations are still to be re-opened on Monday 25th May.
Whatever one may think of this embarrassing fiasco so far, and the series of events from 16th May, the evidence points to the fact that 3 days before Wigan Green Party committee had consulted their hundreds of members on the principle of standing a candidate in the first place, organised the nomination, went about selecting a candidate and a vote, a group of activists and one MP were busy door knocking on behalf of a fictitious candidate in Makerfield.
This should never have happened. So why did it?
The Green Party is undergoing a major transformation because of a huge surge in membership. The Leadership Team is divided and weak and Local parties are overwhelmed. Furthermore, the Party’s legal status and its constitution are no longer fit-for purpose and the Party’s instruments of governance have long ceased to be worthy of a political party.
As the 13 strong Executive seem to be incapable of keeping control of the Leadership Team and Zack Polanski’s behaviour coupled with 200000 new members, many of whom know very little about politics and the Green Party, something is almost bound to go very badly wrong sooner rather than later.
With so much national interest and media attention about this Makerfield byelection and Andy Burnham’s declared aim to change the Labour Party and challenge the Prime Minister, what has been happening within Wigan and Leigh Green Party over the past couple of weeks demands a thorough investigation, total focus and, last but not least, an urgent, open and honest debate about the merit of standing a candidate in this historic by-election.
As for that debate, we invite visitors to read a considered article from long serving members Dave Taylor and Mike Shaughnessy here: https://londongreenleft.blogspot.com/2026/05/only-andy-burnham-can-defeat-reform.html
Your comments are always welcome.
TheGreelightBlog@protomail.com
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