Labour is reportedly aiming to stop Green voters from switching to the Conservatives

One of the many things David Cameron has done during his four years as Tory leader has been to make the party greener and make it more environmentally aware. It is probably best illustrated by the decision to stand for Parliament of former Ecologist editor Zac Goldsmith, who was co-chairman of the party's Quality of Life policy group (not all of whose recommendations were accepted as policy, of course).

And according to today's Independent on Sunday, it would seem that Labour are worried that the Conservatives are now well placed to win the votes of former Green Party backers.

The paper reports that Labour is intending to try and highlight divisions with Conservative Party over climate change in the top Tory target seats where the Green Party won more than 2% of the vote at the last election - in the hope of stopping Green supporters from switching to back the Conservatives and helping to deliver a Tory majority in the Commons.

Labour is apparently planning to use this tactic in the following list of constituencies, according to the Independent, which only covers the seats the Conservatives need to gain to win a majority of one (hence certain seats with a strong Green presence such as Brighton Pavilion and Norwich South are not included):

• Battersea (Lab)
• Birmingham Edgbaston (Lab)
• Bradford West (Lab)
• Brentford & Isleworth (Lab)
• Brighton Kemptown (Lab) 
• Calder Valley (Lab)
• Carshalton & Wallington (LD)
• Cheltenham (LD)
• Colne Valley (Lab)
• Croydon Central (Con held, but notionally Lab under new boundaries)
• Devon North (LD)
• Edinburgh South (Lab) 
• Finchley & Golders Green (Lab) 
• Hastings & Rye (Lab)
• Hereford & South Herefordshire (LD)
• Hove (Lab)
• Leeds North West (LD)
• Milton Keynes North (Con held, but notionally Lab under new boundaries)
• Milton Keynes South (Lab)
• Ochil & South Perthshire (Lab) 
• Oxford West & Abingdon (LD)
• Poplar & Limehouse (Lab)
• Reading West (Lab)
• Richmond Park (LD) 
• Stirling (Lab)
• Stroud (Lab)
• Swindon South (Lab)
• Tooting (Lab)
• Watford (Lab)
• Waveney (Lab)
• Worcester (Lab)

If Labour are seriously intending using their limited campaign budget to try and stop Green sympathisers from voting for Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park, they have rather more resources at their disposal than I imagined...

Jonathan Isaby