Rambling Thread
The two of the most common reasons voters gave me on the doorstep for not wanting to vote Labour were "they're all the same. Just in for themselves" and hatred of Jeremy Corbyn but they couldn't explain why. Neither of these responses were common in 2017.
The two of the most common reasons voters gave me on the doorstep for not wanting to vote Labour were "they're all the same. Just in for themselves" and hatred of Jeremy Corbyn but they couldn't explain why. Neither of these responses were common in 2017.
That represents two problems for Labour. Firstly Labour's vote has been declining since after 1997. There are a host of factors for this; changing demographics, decline of unions and the failure of New Labour to do enough to address in equality and neglect of much of the country.
Secondly the media still has a lot of influence. The four year campaign against Corbyn took its toll. The Tories knew how to target people to get negative messages across and we failed to come up with any meaningful response to antisemitism or terrorist sympathiser accusations.
It took its toll because the Labour party changed its identity after 2017 from the party of change to the party of the status quo. We spent a year or so messing about in Parliament trying to stop Brexit then switched our policy from soft Brexit to a second vote.
Perception of Corbyn went from being a breath of fresh air to being a typical politician flip flopping for votes and trying to tell voters he knew better.
His leadership was questioned because his own MPs ran amock without consequences for years, lending credibility to every attack on him no matter how flimsy (antisemitic for inviting a Jewish holocaust survivor to speak in Parliament!).
And then there was the people's vote campaign. Obviously hijacked from the start by people who knew Corbyn's integrity was a threat to their way of life. They convinced many that Corbyn was the problem rather talking to leave voters or campaigning to mitigate the damage of Brexit
The solution to Labour's problems is not some clever policy or triangulating around polling. It's the hard work of getting out into communities and workplaces, understanding people's problems and joining the fights to actually defend ordinary people.
It means we accept that we're leaving the EU but we fight the damage caused, fighting local austerity not being it's midwife on local councils, putting the welfare of ordinary people ahead of temporary political advantage, having a radical vision that's more than vague soundbites
