Labour’s in trouble if PM really means it

BORIS Johnson owes his stunning election victory to voters in the North and Midlands.

Nobody thought seats such as

West Bromwich East, held until recently by Labour’s former deputy leader Tom Watson, or North West Durham, held by shadow cabinet member Laura Pidcock, would ever return Conservative MPs.

So it’s only right that he should keep the promises he made to the regions of England.

And he made some big ones.

There were the specific pledges, such as plans for new light rail lines and train stations. And there was also a general pledge to make the regions a top priority. Mr Johnson promised to “level up”, and to “unleash the potential of the whole country” as he liked to put it. So he’ll be judged on whether he delivers.

But here’s something for Labour politicians to ponder, as they consider how to respond to the worst defeat their party has suffered since the 1930s. What if Boris Johnson really means it?

What if he does build the new rail lines he’s promised, recruit more nurses and pump investment into the regions of England? What if he never does sell the NHS to Donald Trump?

Despite Labour’s attempts to portray Mr Johnson as some sort of rabid right-winger, his policy programme is pretty moderate.

In fact, he’s a spender. He likes spending money. And far from insisting that the country must live within its means, the mantra of previous Conservative leaders, he says his government will take advantage of low interest rates to borrow money and invest it in infrastructure.

The theory is very similar to the one put forward by Corbyn’s Labour Party, although Johnson’s infrastructure spending plans are modest (at ‘only’ £100 billion) compared to the sums Corbyn planned to spend.

Mr Johnson knows full well he has only borrowed the votes of many former Labour supporters in the North and Midlands. But we’ll have left the EU by the time the next election comes around, and there’s no guarantee Labour will elect a new leader as unpopular as Corbyn.

Mr Johnson needs to offer more if he’s going to retain all these seats in four or five years time, when the next election comes around.

But he knows it. And if he proves able to deliver on his promises then Labour should be really worried.

Meanwhile, we wait to see whether Labour’s activists, and union bosses, have the sense and humility to admit they got it wrong when they made Corbyn leader.

As soon as it became clear that Labour had suffered a massive defeat in the election, many of the people responsible – Corbyn’s supporters – claimed the problem had been “Brexit” and nothing to do with Labour at all.

This is partly, perhaps, an attempt to defend Mr Corbyn’s reputation. But he won’t be leader for much longer. Historians will judge Corbyn, and they won’t be swayed by the instant reaction of Labour activists and journalists.

Many of those defending Corbyn today are really concerned with the future of the party after he’s gone. They are attempting to head off calls for the party to change direction.

But if Labour wants to win again, it must accept that what it’s been doing for the past four years hasn’t worked.