A portion of a Labour Party leaflet headed "Green Party Policies" which criticises the Green Party's stance on drug policy, criminal justice and other issues

The Labour Party’s tactics in the local elections have come under fire from a key former party adviser. Andrew Fisher, who served as Direct of Policy for Labour from 2015-2019 has accused a Labour leaflet of ‘attacking the Greens from the right’, which he branded a ‘recipe for electoral failure’.

The leaflet, which appears to have been distributed by the Labour Party in the West Midlands criticises the Greens’ positions on a range of issues, including NATO, corporation tax and drug law reform.

In a Twitter thread, Fisher broke down the problems with a number of points in the leaflet.

Branding the attack on the Greens’ drugs and criminal justice policies “dumb”, Fisher said the leaflet implies Labour doesn’t want to reduce the UK’s prison population.

More damningly, Fisher notes that the leaflet attacks policies which are currently held by the Labour Party. Fisher wrote, “Secondly, in attacking the Greens, it attacks two which are Labour policies as well. It is Labour policy to abolish right to buy. @WelshLabour has abolished right to buy. Raising corporation tax to 24%. In 2019 Labour pledged to raise to 26%. Last year Sunak raised it to 25%”.

Fisher went on to write that campaigning like this would push away a portion of the Labour Party’s electoral base. He wrote, “Labour attacking the Greens and the Lib Dems from the right – while offering nothing positive. This is a recipe for electoral failure, pushing away Labour’s electoral base of younger, socially liberal voters”.

You can see the full leaflet and Fisher’s thread here:

Both the Labour Party and the Green Party have been approached for comment.

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