If progressive parties have a horrible night, a tiny electoral division in #Stroud might give us some ideas why.
THREAD
1/6

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.

2/6

Westminster& #39;s longest rivalry between Labour& #39;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& #39;s landslide.

3/6

But there was a & #39;progressive alliance& #39; 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.

4/6

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.

5/6

Of course the Green and Labour parties have different policies and traditions. But if two of Gloucestershire& #39;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?

6/6