Labour Could Win Over 80% of Green and Lib Dem Voters With Progressive Policies, Poll Suggests

Eight in ten Green and Liberal Democrat voters would be open to switching allegiances, depending on Labour’s future choices.

A wealth tax on people worth more than £10 million could convince 37% of respondents who currently support the Greens or Lib Dems to vote for Andy Burnham’s party, according to a new poll carried out for Zeteo UK. 

Where former chancellor Rachel Reeves ruled out a wealth tax under Keir Starmer’s premiership, Andy Burnham has hinted that his government might “ask for a little more” from rich taxpayers.  The Greens have backed an annual 1% tax on personal wealth of more than £10m – and double that for people with assets of more than £1bn.

Some 36% of respondents to the poll said they would be tempted to vote Labour if the party raised the personal tax-free allowance to £15,000 or higher. Reform UK has also promised to raise this threshold if voted in. 

The polling figures come three weeks before the Holborn and St Pancras byelection triggered by former prime minister Keir Starmer’s resignation as an MP. Green party leader Zack Polanski will stand against Labour’s Camden council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali and Patrick Stillman, the outgoing chair of the Camden Liberal Democrats. 

Other policies that could tempt progressive voters towards Labour include bringing water companies into public ownership, with 31% of Green and Lib Dem voters saying they’d consider changing allegiances if Burnham’s government pushed for nationalisation. Suspending all arms exports licences to Israel would tempt 27% of respondents towards Labour, the poll also showed.