If progressive parties have a horrible night, a tiny electoral division in #Stroud might give us some ideas why.
THREAD
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Since 2009 @StroudGreens have held Stroud Central (different names at different times, same bit of ground). Stroud is a Cotswold market town, but has a bit of a hippy, alternative vibe, voted Remain and is ripe territory for Greens and Labour.

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Westminster's longest rivalry between Labour's @DavidEDrew & soft-Tory Neil Carmichael was in Stroud. They both held the seat at different times between 1997-2019. But Brexit pushed Carmichael out of the Tories and the seat went to a new Tory in last year's landslide.

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But there was a 'progressive alliance' twist in 2019: @GreenPartyMolly also ran in Stroud, with @georgejamesLD standing aside for her. The Tory won by 3,840 votes. Molly got 4,954. There was a lot of bad blood between local progressives.

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Fast-forward to 2021. Stroud Central is up for election. @GreenPartyMolly and @DavidEDrew are running against each other. So the only non-Tory politicians from Stroud with anything approaching household-name status have contrived to cancel each other out.

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Of course the Green and Labour parties have different policies and traditions. But if two of Gloucestershire's best progressive politicians contrive to deny each other the chance to represent us, the voting public, what hope is there for progressive politics in this country?

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