Dear Caroline Lucas,
A couple of weeks ago, I sent an open letter to Keir Starmer, as the Leader of the Opposition. It calls on him to lead a cross-party initiative to resist the attack by the Johnson government on many of our democratic institutions and processes. A copy is attached, and you can see the published version here on West England Bylines.
To my surprise, this letter seems to have resonated and has been viewed at least 80,000 times with many thousands of likes, retweets and shares. I have also received numerous complimentary comments on social media. Among those offering support are a Labour MP and several constituency Labour parties, though I have yet to hear from Keir Starmer’s office.
As the letter refers to the Green Party as well to the Labour Party, and to the desirability of a number of parties working together, it seemed right that I should send you a copy too. While the Labour Party, as the largest of the opposition parties, is of course essential to the success of any alliance for progressive democracy, I hope the ideas here will appeal to you too and encourage your party to be receptive to working together with others – for a time-limited period for a specific purpose.
I am sure you receive many hundreds of letters every day from concerned citizens. But I can now say, with some confidence, that the ideas in this open letter to Keir Starmer command very wide support. I hope they will have yours too and that you would be ready to talk to other party leaders along these lines.
Yours sincerely,
Adrian Phillips
Ed: Following his open letter to Keir Starmer, Adrian has now written this letter to Caroline Lucas, the Green’s MP, and copied to the joint leaders of the Green Party. Similar letters have been sent to the leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Alliance and SDLP parties, as well as to those leading the Parliamentary group of the SNP and Plaid Cymru MPs with copies to the party leaders.
