As a long-term climate protester, I have appreciated Dale Vince’s financial, practical and visible support for Just Stop Oil (I helped fund Just Stop Oil, but no more. The ballot box will be more powerful than disruption, 6 October). I understand his reasoning about the Tories’ cynical strategy of using protest as a divisive vote winner. I understand why he’s prioritising climate over economic issues (though the two are of course deeply interrelated). This is indeed a highly important election. Its outcome will contribute significantly to whether humans, and many other species, will survive beyond the next few decades. Politics doesn’t get any more epic than that.
However, Vince doesn’t apply the same logic in his statement that “a vote for anyone other than Labour, or no vote at all, is a vote for another Tory government”. Such a suggestion is worse than incorrect, it’s dangerously counterproductive. A Labour vote in constituencies where another progressive candidate has the most support will help the Conservative candidate win.
