Labour should resist the false comfort that this result was an anomaly: a "Get Brexit Done" election, with 2017 the true measure of Corbyn's appeal. Labour's electoral record since 2015 suggests something worse: that 2017 was the outlier, in an otherwise dire run of results. 1/3
2. In local elections since 2015, Labour has polled 31% (2016), 27% (2017), 35% (2018) & 28% (2019), losing more than 400 councillors. In the 2019 European elections, it won just 14%, losing half its MEPs. In 2017 it lost the Copeland by-election: a Labour seat since 1935.
3. Lab's problems run deeper than Corbyn. It lost 2 GEs before he took over. It lost Scotland in 2015. The "Red Wall" has long been crumbling. But Corbynism has failed nearly every electoral test since 2015. If it treats this result as an anomaly, the damage may be irreversible.
