This is the pivotal point, which the Starmer government must understand electorally if it can't understand it politically
Reposted from
Tom Baldwin
In The Observer, @robfordmancs.bsky.social makes an important point that is not heard often enough in the current political debate.
Comments
Maybe this conundrum will finally convince all that as a system it's broken.
https://sites.google.com/view/rightwinguk/home
I gave up on Labour and voted Green on July 4th. But too few people will do the same so...
Essentially, the left is too clever for its own good.
Farage is a Putin Puppet who will give Trump what he wants
Yep, this is the threat that hands the keys to Reform and with devastating consequences for all. Starmer must open his eyes. While he's asleep at the wheel this is happening in real-time.
Brexit failed, and we must move forward.
#AfD
Land banking by developers, drip feeding new builds to keep supply down helps drive up prices. End land banking. 5 years for planning permission and if its not built, no renewal of the application.
There are things that can be done, just not the will to do them.
SNP 36%
Reform 23%
Labour 15%
Conservatives 12%
Lib Dems 6%
Greens 5%
others 3%
Westminster seat projection:
SNP 48 seats (+39)
Liberal Democrats 5 seats (-1)
Conservatives 3 seats (-2)
Labour 1 seat (-36)
Reform 0 seats (nc)
(Opinium, 5-7 February)
this government treats me and my community worse than the tories did.
Oblivion is a government doing away with anything resembling free and fair elections. That's what the far right want to do, might be doing now in the US, and would try to do in the UK.
Referendum result was ca 50/50 but since then it's all about those who want closed Britain. How come? Why ca 50% gets ignored?!
Vote Green
Labour shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that the support of more progressive types is unconditional. First and foremost Labour should be a party for the less well off and the vulnerable. They shouldn't forget that.
With hindsight and certain 'policy' announcements indicating a lurch towards the right, I won't make the same mistake twice.
a person is either in favour of equality or they are not. starmer and his cabinet are not.
Many feel unattached to any of the big manifesto issues because they don’t see anything changing in their world.
Non-partisan ‘Grudge’ issues (straws, DEI, ‘foreigners’), being ‘resolved’ quickly, turn them on.
Economic statistics over environment: lots of votes to the Greens.
Tinker with the EU reset rather than pushing ahead so that tangible benefits appear by (say) 2027: lots of votes to the Lib Dems.
I know loads of people who really had to hold their nose to vote Labour last summer. The desire to remove the Tories was visceral.
I suspect they are now hemorrhaging progressive voters - and I doubt they're winning over many of their new target voters either. Strategy is suicidal.
Wouldn't surprise me to see a Labour/Lib Dem coalition in '29
wes streeting only held on to his seat by 500 votes.
there are no safe seats anymore.
That seems pretty safe to me.
However, here's the catch. Right wingers view the political spectrum very differently to other voters. I've often heard LAB described as 'far left'....
For example, my Dad would say anyone describing this Lab or previous Con as right wing is having a laugh.
I obviously disagree with him, but his viewpoint is shared by a LOT of people. Check the Telegraph comments section.
I do wonder why anybody in the 99.9% would welcome the return of the Gilded Age and why they think they’ll be exempt.
Brits by and large I find dislike the extreme left/right.
I think Conservatives ditched the centre last time round and got pasted.
Just my opinion.
the regular left have been painted as ‘far left’ by the media simply bcos don’t like thatcherism.
there is no ‘centre’. centrism has failed. the united states teaches us that. centrism leads to fascism.
I'd point to Rory Stewart and say you're not a million miles off there.
How would you describe a lot of the 2024 Lab voters?
He is not a good politician, he’s as agile as a dead elephant under a fallen chimney stack.
It just seemed to sum up the madness of the last decade.
Again, what on earth are we going to do about it?
Starmer still so focused on his ming vase that's he's forgotten why he picked it up in the first place
I truly despair for this country.
My ten year old understands this. Ignoring a huge stable body of the population whilst chasing an ever diminishing cohort of bigots and nutcases just seems absolute madness.
The right have stolen a march in the realignment race but while Labour may not longer be “it” as voice of the left, the left will be doomed to lose unless they agree what “it” is
I do believe that there's an establishment here who nudge the populace towards what is palatable though. The Tories clearly weren't any longer, but a beige middle of the road Starmer was. Nothing will really change. Very disheartening.
Next time Green.
I spoke to Labour/floating voters who were looking for any reason not to vote for them. These people have random concerns and no values of any substance. Labour shouldn’t court any of them - just do the thing that’s needed to keep the loonies at bay - that will do for now
We put you in, we can remove you.
Get back to true labour values.
Right now you're letting down Britain.
I'm very angry.
You're continuing the Tory gravy train.
Which Labour values are the most important to you?
In the second part you're not a politician.
I go directly to the organ grinder with my beef.
Finally, I don't know or understand your interests in my values.
Persevere.
Re-invigorating democracy - PR, effective regional government (10 million to stand up to London and SE) or make HoL to a real democratic review chamber.
labour hq needs to figure out bots don’t vote.
https://bsky.app/profile/sloanefragment.bsky.social/post/3lhg7li3utc2k
SNP 36%
Reform 23%
Labour 15%
Conservatives 12%
Lib Dems 6%
Greens 5%
others 3%
Westminster seat projection:
SNP 48 seats (+39)
Liberal Democrats 5 seats (-1)
Conservatives 3 seats (-2)
Labour 1 seat (-36)
Reform 0 seats (nc)
(Opinium, 5-7 February)
I voted for someone other than Labour last year for the first time in 30 years of voting and would do so again today.
“Everything will be great if more competent people are in charge” isn’t true and allows the right to own “change the system”
My Green vote was taken over the line by the nonsense position on growth I kept hearing from Rachel Reeves...
And to do it Reeves would have to be in hock to the very neoliberal forces that put us here.
Labour just needs to focus on bringing growth to the UK, and with headwinds growing on the global economy may need to get bolder with growth plans
It makes far more sense to let Reform and the Conservatives fight over GB News viewers whilst holding on to the middle ground instead.
We mustn't become the 52nd State or Airstrip One.
Huge miscalculation.
It’s starting to look like a repeat of 2019 all over again and the reasons aren’t actually that different either
Corbyn was too in thrall to Johnson’s Brexit to stand up against it or Cummings now Starmer appears to be too frightened to stand up against Farage/the RW MSM
Either way just as it is now a totally RW biased MSM and the non stop online targeted radicalisation of primarily the white working class made a huge impact
Labour refused to acknowledge it then and it’s still refusing
We did all we could to kick out the Tories and our tactical voting gave Labour a big win.
Ignoring us is bad for Labour and bad for the country.
Our votes matter too and it’s beyond time politicians acknowledged that.
Don’t end up being the U.K. version of these guys…
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/muslims-who-voted-trump-upset-by-his-pro-israel-cabinet-picks-2024-11-15/
It states that AI must be “open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy, taking into account international frameworks for all” and “making AI sustainable for people and the planet”
Either that or he and his team are all idiots.
They’re going to haemorrhage support from all angles
But it currently appears that they are intent on following the exact same path as Biden but expect a different result
No Leveson 2 is a huge mistake
As is refusing to stand up to Musk, ban foreign political donations or MPs second jobs
Tusk did it in week 1 in Govt, Starmer has left it too late as it will just hand Farage/his complicit MSM more ammunition to say Lab is running scared of Reform/shutting down free speech
Self regulation of the press is their licence to print lies, propaganda and misinformation.
Electors are being defrauded by a 'phishing' scam. They are being contacted by people calling themselves the 'Labour Party' and persuaded to deposit their votes with the scammers.The 'Labour Party' is not connected in any way with the real Labour Party.
not on trying to benefit the Party by appealing to benighted proto-fascists or greedy robber barons, but on
just doing the right thing.
If they vote for the Greens, or Lib-Dems ... and the tories get back in ... *then it's their fault*. This is the reason the tories have been in power most of my lifetime.😬
Vote Labour. (Or Lib-Dem)
#UKpolitics
All of it contributing to guaranteed Farage in No.10
I want Lab to do well but they need to expose RefCon not appease them
Might as well say bollocks to this and vote with your conscience
Still be screwed but at least have a clean conscience
The current gov settled the public sector strikes, tories wouldn't. Incrementally, Labour fix things, the tories sell things off. But sure, salve your conscience, hopefully someone else loses out.
#UKpolitics
No addressing inequality, fair taxation, fair elections
Keep backing Tory lite, least it isn't Tory far right.
https://bsky.app/profile/sundersays.bsky.social/post/3lhh7ctqys227
See report and data for why
https://www.britishfuture.org/publication/restoring-trust-in-polarised-times-immigration-in-the-new-parliament/
The best that can be said is that it's not making things *much* worse.
Harris would have been a dull continuity candidate in the USA and they ended up with Trump
Labour's excuse for this shambles? Is Starmer really the best they have?
Voting Remain was less harmful than leave
A Starmer shambles is better than a Farage government
Harris would have been less of a mess than Trump
They're just completely f*cking useless.
https://bylinetimes.com/2024/12/20/labour-government-annoucements-explained/
Still: plenty of time yet. Here’s hoping for change.
Going to lose a LOT of councils this year
Labour needs to start repairing the damage they have done to their support now.
I’ll worry about it in 2029.
People that vote Reform can go f*ck themselves just for the record.
https://bsky.app/profile/maxwellshabbsby.bsky.social/post/3lhgwa4urgc2e
https://bsky.app/profile/luketryl.bsky.social/post/3lhr3mkirlk25
"Not as shit as the Tories" only works once.