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Twitter is full of wrong takes on Labour's Hartlepool loss
Was Labour too left/not left enough?
Would Corbyn have done better than Starmer?
Should Labour have been more/less pro-Brexit?
Wrong candidate, chosen the wrong way?
I don't care about any of them
Quick
Was Labour too left/not left enough?
Would Corbyn have done better than Starmer?
Should Labour have been more/less pro-Brexit?
Wrong candidate, chosen the wrong way?
I don't care about any of them
Quick
Labour needs to start with the questions @rafaelbehr poses in this thought provoking column
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/04/labour-tories-voters-keir-starmer?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
And it needs to take account of the changes in voter behaviour documented by @robfordmancs in Brexitland
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/04/labour-tories-voters-keir-starmer?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
And it needs to take account of the changes in voter behaviour documented by @robfordmancs in Brexitland
It also ought to look at what is happening elsewhere in Europe (sorry, but despite Brexit, what's happening in Britain reminds me of so much from European politics!)
It's like Labour is the SPD
or PS 
And the Tories Fidesz
or PiS 
It's like Labour is the SPD
or PS And the Tories Fidesz
or PiS
(The parallels don't fit exactly, not least in the UK as there's a third force - the we-want-nothing-of-this of SNP 
and Plaid Cymru 
- but let's leave that out for now, and focus on 
)
and Plaid Cymru - but let's leave that out for now, and focus on )
The crux in England is this: if an election is being fought along authoritarian-liberal or open-closed lines, rather than left-right lines, that's a massive headache for Labour
That's the question between the lines of Behr's column
That's the question between the lines of Behr's column
Labour under Starmer - with his solid backing of the Tories' Brexit for example - has instead tacked towards supposed "Red Wall" voters, trying to win them back for Labour. Efforts to dress Labour in the union flag are part of that too.
Hartlepool calls that into question.
Should Labour go *even further* in that direction? Or - as Jean-Marie Le Pen once said - when faced with a choice between the original and a copy, will go with the original?
Should Labour go *even further* in that direction? Or - as Jean-Marie Le Pen once said - when faced with a choice between the original and a copy, will go with the original?
Instead it seems to me there is an obvious - although hard - way back for Labour.
It is to relentlessly stick to the territory where its policies - on economic policy - are more in line with those of the English population than the Tories are.
It is to relentlessly stick to the territory where its policies - on economic policy - are more in line with those of the English population than the Tories are.
In other words: it's the economy, stupid.
We, Labour, will get you more money in your pocket. Better food on your table. A more secure and better job for you and your family.
We, Labour, will get you more money in your pocket. Better food on your table. A more secure and better job for you and your family.
Make an election about jobs, equality, poverty. Schools, the NHS. Hammer on relentlessly about how England (and especially places like Hartlepool!) ought to be better places to live for people than they are.
This would also lead Labour towards partially solving the Brexit problem. Not to advocate rejoin (that is out), but for a closer economic relationship with the EU - because that's important for the future of the economy.
And then closer to a General Election try to seek some sort of Progressive Alliance with Lib Dems, Greens, and even SNP and Plaid Cymru with the promise of electoral reform - to finally allow British politics to have the sort of party political diversity the rest of Europe has.
Will all of this work? I don't know for sure. But it seems to me the only viable route - to stop Labour tearing itself apart internally, and to focus on where there *is* an overlap with what Labour wants and what the population says it wants.
/ends
/ends
