Kudos to @jessphillips & @lisanandy (and others) for starting to address hard questions & realities that #Labour face after #GE2019 but I worry about strategy based on appeasing "Northern working class", many of whom hold fundamentally different values on socio-cultural issues.
1. Obviously, "the" working class does not exist, also not in the North. I worry that "the" Norther working class voter stands for the pro-Brexit (white) working class (man) in the North, who disagrees with Labour on many more fundamental issues than Brexit.
2. The future of social democracy in UK, and beyond, is in a broad coalition of precariat, working class, and lower middle class, men and women, white and non-white. It is at least as much in non-voters as in left-to-right voters.
3. It is also important not to reduce (Northern, white) "working class" to nativists. Many white Northern working class men and women are as anti-racist as the London middle classes, working in ethnically diverse factories and businesses,
4. Acknowledging that Labour has lost "trust" is important, as is understanding that it was lost over decades, and won't be won back in a few years. But "trust" was not lost randomly. It is related to interests and values, not always compatible with social democracy.
5. Obviously, leadership matters too, as does organization. Currently, organization and leader seem almost the same, which would make replacing the leader more costly than some now realize. No reason not to do it, but non-Corbyn(ista) Labour is organizationally weak.
6. Finally, while UK has different political culture and system, it is not immune to broader trends, which include decline of all parties, but particularly Social Democratic parties. It is important to be realistic in expectations.
7. It is in Labour's long-term interests to change the electoral system and to start investing in broader collaborations and coalitions with civil society groups and parties, in England, Wales, and, irrespective of other developments, Scotland. #TheEnd
