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Former Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has defected to the Greens – the party’s biggest defection to date.
The former MP represented the Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven constituency from 2017 to 2024, which neighbours longstanding Green seat Brighton Pavillion.
In a statement, Mr Russell-Moyle took aim at the direction of the Labour Party saying it has “left behind millions of people who want hope and want to see change in their lives”.
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Lloyd Russell-Moyle (PA Wire)
“For almost ten years I worked alongside Caroline [Lucas] as the MP next door”, he said.
“My old party has left behind millions of people who want hope and want to see change in their lives, their communities and the world around them.
“In the Greens I see a party that is offering that. In the Greens I see a party I have worked with for years and I am making the jump to join them today, I urge others to do so too.”
A number of Labour councillors have quit their party to join the Greens, but Mr Russell-Moyle is the most well-known Labour face to make the switch so far.
It comes after party leader Mr Polanski told The Independenthe has had multiple conversations with sitting Labour MPs about defecting to his party as they become increasingly unhappy with the direction of Sir Keir Starmer’s government.
The Green Party leadersaid the number of Labour MPs he has spoken to who are dissatisfied with the party was in “double figures”. He added that the Greens would “absolutely” welcome disillusioned MPs, as long as they share the party’s values.
On Thursday, Mr Polanski said he is “delighted to welcome Lloyd to the party”, adding: “His story is one that is all too familiar; abandoned in the interest of power and profit over people and principles.
“Lloyd and tens of thousands like him have not left the Labour party; the Labour party has left them.
“Today the Green Party has over 150,000 members and is polling second to Reform. The Greens are the home of progressive politics, and we’re making hope normal again.”
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Green Party leader Zack Polanski said the chancellor should ‘cut bills, tax billionaires’ at the Budget (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Wire)
Mr Russell-Moyle was suspended from the Labour Party in 2024 after a complaint was made about his behaviour eight years prior, but he returned to the party earlier this year after an investigation found there was insufficient evidence.
At the time, the then MP said he believed it to be a “vexatious and politically-motivated complaint”.
The defection comes as the Green Party climbs in the polls, with a YouGov survey from last month putting them on 16 per cent support.
The poll, commissioned by The Times, found that just 17 per cent of voters back Labour, the same number that would vote for Kemi Badenoch’s Tories, while Reform UK continue to surge ahead on 27 per cent.
The Green Party says it has seen a 45 per cent increase in membership since Zack Polanski was elected Leader of the party in September, surpassing 100,000 members in October.
