Read more: Labour's answer to everything… more tax! Wes Streeting calls for a 'wealth' levy to raise £12bn as 'shadow' leadership battle escalatesSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy SOPHIE CHURCH - POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 23:38 BST, 21 May 2026 | Updated: 23:58 BST, 21 May 2026
Labour lost almost four times as many voters to the Greens than to Reform at the local elections, a poll has revealed.Some 22 per cent of those who chose Labour at the general election switched to the Greens this month, compared with just 6 per cent to Reform UK.And only 46 per cent of 2024 Labour voters stuck with the party at the local elections, the YouGov poll reveals, with Labour losing nearly six in ten seats it was defending and suffering one of its worst–ever results at the polls – triggering a leadership crisis.Meanwhile, on Thursday night the Greens' candidate for the Makerfield by–election pulled out of the race when the party was approached with a story about him.Zack Polanski had already been forced to defend standing a candidate at all, after calls from within the Greens to allow Labour's Andy Burnham an unimpeded run.Former Green leader Caroline Lucas last week warned Mr Polanski of splitting the Left–wing vote and seeing Reform win. Labour lost almost four times as many voters to Zak Polanski's Greens than to Reform at the local elections , a poll has revealedBut Mr Polanski boasted on Thursday that the Greens 'can take votes from Reform in a way Labour just can't', adding: 'We know there are many voters fed up with the status quo who will only choose between Reform and Greens.'He added the Greens would use the by–election to 'press Andy Burnham on what kind of MP and prime minister he would be'.
