I'm staying in the Labour Party but I do understand why some people have decided to leave it. I hope this is temporary. The practical reality is that the Labour Party for all its faults is the only game in town for those who want radical change. Here's why..
(Thread 1 of 17)

The first past the post electoral system create a two party system. It's puts a stranglehold on other parties. Since the Great Crash in 2008, social democratic parties like Labour have in much of Europe given ground or been devastated by other parties who have offered..
(2)

..a more radical alternative, eg the rise of the Greens in many of those countries. More flexible electoral systems than ours enable the quick switching to another party. Ours doesn't. The Labour Party's roots start in the 1860s when the Tories and Liberals dominated...
(3)

The first independent Labour candidates stood in 1895 (30+ years later). The first Lab government, a minority one was in 1924 (24 year later). The first majority Lab govt was in 1945, some 80 years on from its roots, 50 years on from its first election. This rise..
(4)

..of Labour was enabled by the decline of the Liberals. Labour replaced them in the two party system. The Liberals in their various guises have been trying to break the two party since then. They've never come close, at best they've taken opposition votes from Labour..
(5)

..and enabled Tory governments. The Greens aren't going to get anywhere and Galloway's latest personal vanity project will have all its Christmases and birthdays in one if it ever gets an MP (assuming George stays interested that long).
(6)

Bottom line: no new third party is going to succeed anytime soon, certainly not by the next election. Just ask Chuka Umuna and his Change mates how well new parties succeed. Any new left party would have to replace Labour in the two party system..
(7)

..and look above to see it took Labour 50 to 80 years to shift the Liberals out. No other party has succeeded in doing that since. So for the folks who've left Labour saying "we need a new party" that's the historical mountain you need to climb, with no guarantee..
(8)

..it will happen in the lifetime of most people reading this tweet. It might do and do so quickly, say maybe ready for government in an amazing 10 years, and I might win the next rollover, the odds are about the same. The two party system means that neither Labour..
(9)

..or the Tories will disappear overnight the way some of their continental counterparts did. Like the Liberals before it, if Labour is to be replaced by some new party it will take time. In the meantime the choice of government at the next few elections at least will be..
(10)

..Labour or the Tories, albeit sometimes as minority governments. So if you want to have policies that help people and make change, however small that change maybe, the only choice is Labour. As much as we can criticise the..
(11)

...Blair governments there's no denying they were infinitely preferable to any Tory one and some improvements, however temporary they were, were made. But some will say, especially after the leaks, that the party's establishment is a cesspit. Maybe..
(12)

..but that cesspit was actually worse in 2015 and we elected the most transformative leader the party has ever had. The reason we got that leader was we were able to vote for him as members. Outside of the party you can't do that..
(13)

..You won't be able to vote for the Left candidates who will stand for the NEC, regional and CLP positions. You won't be able to table or vote for CLP motions that hold the leadership to account.
(14)

In short, you won't be able to make a difference to the party that overwhelming majority of those who've left will vote for anyway. If you think it's hard now imagine being a socialist under Blair's regime. Jeremy, Tony B, John McD and the other socialists didn't look at..
(15)

..Blair's total dominance and say we've had it, let's call it day and try something else. Had they done that, the socialist alternative in Labour would have disappeared and whatever they created would have got nowhere and we wouldn't have Jeremy as leader.
(16)

So this thread is a very long way of saying 'au revoir', ie see you again. The emotions that have made people leave will in due course give way to the practical reality that has hit anyone unhappy with the two main parties, changing those parties is way easier than replacing them