Election Reaction

I’m devastated. Hate has defeated hope. Labour has haemorrhaged working-class voters, seduced by three horrible words “Get Brexit Done!”. We’ve been here before, Cummings’ “Take back control” did the damage in 2016, showing the power of words and the impact of repeating them.


Labour is being criticised for betraying people on Brexit but a pro-Brexit stance, whilst backing a damaging outcome for Britain, would have split the party. With a mostly pro-Remain membership (and MPs) it could have been stronger on Remain but those traditional Labour seats would still have been lost. It goes back to those three badly constructed and deceitful, but brilliantly effective, words “Get Brexit Done” and the calculated collapse of the Brexit party.


The popularity of Jeremy Corbyn obviously didn’t help. The anti-Semitism in the labour party, and his reaction to it, damaged him more than the racism in the Conservative party (and racist language of its offensive leader) damaged the Tories. Now the right is on the rise. Not just here but across Europe where social democracy is in crisis. It’s ironic that that a politician who has campaigned against racism for decades has had his reputation shredded by a right-wing press intent on portraying him as a security threat. Yet in Scotland, a leader who has said that she would scrap trident and never go near a nuclear button has swept to victory. A leader whose position is not far from the “far left” that Corbyn’s Labour has been portrayed.


So what now? Brexit will be done. It’ll take time to get a deal, or not, with the EU but we will be out, either with a worse deal than we have now, one which will damage our lives in many ways and reignite Farage’s “it’s not what we voted for” brigade. Or a no deal Brexit, possible before 2020 is out, proving that the ERG have played a blinder. It looks like we’re screwed.


By 2024 the electoral boundaries will have been redrawn, making it easier for the Tories to win seats, and it will be harder for people to vote. The young, the poor, those not born in the UK, will be most affected by the further hoops to jump through and required ID, and there will be no votes for 16- and 17-year olds. As for PR, forget it, we'll still have a two party, first past the post system.


As for the young. They have been let down. Again. There will be no Green New Deal and the throwaway 2045 carbon neutral pledge will be futile. There will be no 'free at the point of use' higher education (or re-education for adults) - of course the Tories don’t want the people to be able to think! And in any case, the only jobs will be low-skilled as the slave labour of low paid, insecure jobs continues. High levels of employment and a strong economy might happen as we race to the bottom in a state of tax haven. But to what end if all the money is going to the few, the rest working several jobs to just about not manage, whilst their health suffers and public services are not properly funded to deal with it.   


I’ve not even mention Trump, that Scotland will continue to demand a second referendum on independence and, when denied one, will have their own and now vote to leave in a Catalonia style poll, or the impending troubles in Ireland. I’m struggling to find hope. Perhaps in the fact that 52% of voters did side against the dark side and that 1/3 of voters were prepared to vote for radial change. The fight goes on. Extinction Rebellion is going nowhere and the electorate are beginning to see Boris Johnson for the lying, self-centred coward he is.

To the vulnerable, the resisters, the guardians and protectors of the mind, I wish you well, and hope to see you on the other side of this. The flame cometh before the phoenix. Labour has time to rebuild.