Opposition parties may look to cooperate locally to make gains in Putney constituency

The possibility of a ‘progressive alliance’ to challenge Justine Greening in the forthcoming election has been put forward by local members of various opposition parties in the Putney constituency.

It is understood that there are members of Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens in the area who have been urging their respective party’s local executive to consider either a formal or informal agreement over cooperation in the area. One local person involved in politics in the constituency has told us that this may form part of a broader agreement incorporating a deal over who contests the Richmond Park and Twickenham seats which the Liberal Democrats are hopeful of winning. This would involve Labour being given a freer hand in seats in Wandsworth borough.

Justine Greening MP speech after 2015 results @wandbc

It is felt that with over 70% of people in the constituency voting for Remain in the EU Referendum there would be a chance of making a significant reduction in the Education Secretary’s large majority if the anti-Brexit vote was not split.

The Liberal Democrats have already announced their candidates for all the Wandsworth constituencies including Putney where Ryan Mercer has said he is standing. He appears to be unwilling to consider any form of cooperation with other parties. Calling it the Brexit General Election, Mr Mercer said, "The Lib Dems are the only party campaigning against Theresa May's hard Brexit. Only we will stand up for Putney."

Ryan Mercer

At the time of writing no candidate from the Labour party has been announced to stand in Putney on 8 June although it very unlikely they will not contest the seat as they won 30% of the vote at the last election.

Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has ruled out a formal alliance with other parties and it is thought likely that Labour will contest every seat but it is understood that many in the party believe that campaigning should be kept to a minimum in local Liberal Democrat seats.

Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas has advocated such an alliance. At the local level the party have told us that they are currently in the process of selecting a candidate.

Justine Greening has represented the constituency of Putney since 2005 winning the last election in 2015 with over half the vote.

April 21, 2017