Thread by @BestForBritain

"Progressives ought to embrace strategic voting with a vengeance next week to weaken Mr Johnson’s position."

Yes. Cooperation between progressive parties needs to start now to be able to oust this Government at the next general election. 1/
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Our analysis shows fielding unity candidates between Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens in 154 battleground constituencies in England would relegate the Conservatives to just 254 of 533 seats in England, leaving them 40 seats short of a majority & unable to form a government. 2/

This is the case even if the Conservatives were to hold their 20 Scottish and Welsh seats and gain the support of the DUP’s 8 MPs.

So Labour would only need to step back in 26 seats where the Lib Dems have greater support to oust this government at the next general election. 3/

Regardless of whether or not the Lib Dems withdraw, there are 15 seats where the Green Party standing aside flips the seat from a projected Conservative win to a Labour win, including Tony Blair’s former seat of Sedgefield. 4/

Of course, whether or not they can be persuaded to do this will depend on Labour’s willingness to deliver a fairer voting system in government. 5/

As @pimlicat says, "in 1997 Labour’s NEC and the Lib Dem higher-ups chose not to stand against the anti-sleaze candidate Martin Bell who beat the Conservative MP embroiled in scandal. Sleaze & corruption are back with a vengeance & opposition party cooperation should be too." 6/

Our polling also dispels claims Lib Dem voters are as likely to back the Tories if they are left with a choice between Labour & Conservative. The data shows less than 20% of Lib Dem voters would back the Tories in the average English constituency with 40% going to Labour. 7/

Similarly, Labour voters are overwhelmingly likely to back Lib Dem or Green candidates where the choice is between them and the Tories. 8/
bestforbritain.org/opposition_coo…

And there is broad public support for cooperation. Previous Best for Britain polling has shown 64% of voters say political parties that broadly agree with each other should work together at election time rather than stand against each other, including 70% of Labour supporters. 9/

“In 2017 and 2019, parties on the right chose not to fight each other in key marginals, and will likely to do so again. This polling shows that opposition parties must do the same as non-aggression pacts only won’t cut it and there is no other route to power," says @pimlicat 10/

“Refusal by Labour & Lib Dem leadership to cooperate, form government and deliver change is failing the people and communities these parties seek to represent.

“As the saying goes, you can’t fatten a calf on market day. Work to coordinate this strategy needs to begin now.” 11/11

After our years of research, polling & analysis we're thrilled to see @guardian supporting a progressive alliance

In Nov @tobyhelm used Best for Britain polling to show fielding unity candidates in 154 English seats could overturn the Govt's majority. 12/
theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

In Oct @NickCohen4 penned this, saying the findings should only surprise those who haven’t been paying attention, citing our polling that found two-thirds of voters believed parties that broadly agree with each other should co-operate in elections. 13/
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Our constituency-level analysis is based on an online poll of 12,816 UK adults, fieldwork 2nd to 17th August 2021 and further multilevel regression and post stratification (MRP) analysis. It's the most accurate polling method available. 14/

The question we should all be asking is if not now, when? Will they change their minds and accept that a radical realignment is needed after the Conservatives fifth election victory in 2023 or 2024 or sixth in 2028 or 2029?

The work starts now. #ProgressiveAlliance /ENDS