Corbyn and his uphill struggle
CanLabourwintrustofsceptics?
JEREMY CORBYN was always going to receive a rapturous welcome at the unveiling of Labour’s manifesto in Bradford. He was preaching to the converted. His challenge now is to win over a country that remains deeply sceptical about his leadership, not least because of the sustained opposition from most of his own MPs.
It won’t be easy. Even the political editor of the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror noted at the launch that many of the party’s policy proposals, not least the renationalisation of the railways and utilities, were more popular than Mr Corbyn himself – a recurring theme since he became leader in 2015.
This is not to say that Labour’s ‘for the many, not the few’ mantra should be totally dismissed. Quite the opposite. Mr Corbyn’s sincerity and compassion is worthy of respect. Equally he has formulated a strategy which will strike a chord with those who do feel powerless and voiceless as the forces of globalisation that were already challenging the domestic economy before Brexit.
However this support alone is not sufficient to win an election. Parties have to build coalitions of supporters across the spectrum and this programme of state control is not only a rejection of centrist politics but also a dismissal of New Labour’s winning formula under Tony Blair.
It also turns the economic argument on its head. Labour believe that the way forward is to impose swingeing taxes on the country’s top earners, hoping against hope that they don’t relocate overseas, while increasing corporation tax at a time when recent reductions have, in fact, generated extra revenue for HM Treasury. Labour still has a lot of explaining to do before the wider electorate will even consider its case.
Yet this launch also throws down the gauntlet to the Tories. Rather than trotting out the same old soundbites, it’s down to Theresa May to make a much more positive case for Conservative values with a set of galvanising policies that are robustly costed. The still undecided are owed this at the very least.