Labour is in danger of being destroyed
WHILE Harry Singleton’s conclusions about the Labour Party are dubious, his call for the party to
re-examine itself is timely (‘Labour must work for all,’ Viewpoints, April 21).
Because what we seem to be seeing in the north is a repeat of the same process that destroyed Labour in Scotland, though delayed by the absence of an SNP-type voting alternative.
Indicative of this, a few years a go the son of Jack Straw was parachuted into the Rossendale and Dawen constituency as its candidate. He lost amidst rumours locals wouldn’t campaign for a Blairite outsider.
Recently, Labour lost a council seat in Middlesbrough; once again the suspicion is this is part of the long-term decline of campaign support caused by Blairism.
Shortly after this – and perhaps seeing the writing on the wall – the local Blairite MP Tom Blenkinsop announced he would not be re-standing. This follows the resignations of Blairite MPs Tristram Hunt and Jamie Reed.
Here in the north west, Labour lost Salford’s Kersal ward. The establishment’s report into the defeat cited Salford council’s threeweekly bin collection policy, the council’s approval of the controversial Moor Lane football ground development by Salford City FC, lack of understanding of ward electorate and recent voting history plus campaign overkill. On to which someone had tried to tag Jeremy Corbyn as party leader, though just what he was supposed to do about those local factors such as the bin collections is anyone’s guess.
The reality on the ground is that the old Blairite politics have tainted the party and have fractured traditional automatic allegiances to it. It’s not just that across the north, activists and supporter won’t campaign for Blairites. In some constituencies, grassroots members wanted to deselect MPs such as Angela Eagle, who it’s claimed don’t genuinely represent local sensibilities.
If the party is going reconnect with the social reality on the ground, either the minority left-over Blairites will have to change their orientation or they will have to be changed for people more genuinely representative. Gavin Lewis, Manchester