How Greens are taking most votes off Labour

By SOPHIE CHURCH - POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 23:38, 21 May 2026 | Updated: 23:58, 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 revealed But 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'. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.