Transform Politics is the name of a new group looking to form a fresh left-wing party in the UK. It’s made up of individuals and pre-existing parties – and it’s launched its campaign with a flurry of interest on social media, as well as some criticism.
Let’s get electoral reform first, yeah?
The optimist in me would point to how much impact UKIP had on British politics without ever winning a seat…
However I’m not deluded enough to think these guys have anything as emotive as Brexit to push policy or even pressure the governing parties.
Still, if we ever get that sweet electoral reform I’d be happy to take another look.
UKIP had impact way beyond their support because the Conservative Party will always prioritise retaining power over doing the right thing.
I mean, there was absolutely a fracture inside the Tory party with regards to Europe. UKIP managed to widen that fracture and then Cameron gambled it all and, well here we are.
Yeah, I don’t think that really works unless you’ve got a strong wedge issue that can be used to threaten the main party.
I think you’re absolutely right, we need electoral reform precisely so that more diverse views can be represented in government.
For now, though, the priority has to be ejecting the Tories.
No left leaning party can do what UKIP did because UKIP threatened Labour as well as Tory seats. They were a single issue party and could run as MEPs which gave them another soapbox to shout from. There just isn’t an issue that has the same kind of cross-partisan reach yet.
I think abolition of the monarchy will be that issue in 10-15 years time. Once the older Christian conservative voters die off there will be a stronger push to move to a republic. It’s something that a single issue party could run on and steal votes from the dominant parties.
I’m not sure what the path to electoral reform looks like. Starmer is hostile to the idea. Labour have had electoral reform in their manifesto before and happily ignored it when in power.
Perhaps a hung parliament will get us there. I don’t know what the realistic vote for Electoral reform is. Maybe a Lab-Lib government does it but Libs have been steamrolled in a coalition before.
I’m almost a single issue voter for Electoral reform at this point.
Starmer is hostile to anything that could be used to drive a wedge between him and winning, which doesn’t seem a terrible strategy for the country. Would rather have 5 years of centre left government than another term of Tory leadership. Let the Overington window move slowly, but it’s easier to advocate for left wing policies if the right of labour is in charge (through party conferences) than from the outside.
I wonder at what point this becomes the wedge that will get between him and winning. I don’t think is margins are as secure as the polls lead us to believe. Too many don’t knows and won’t says lurking around.
So I think he’s being foolish to take his base for granted. They’re not going to vote Tory, but they might struggle to turn up on the day. That could be the difference between a commanding majority and a thin/non-existant one.
We won’t, though. Starmer has rejected centre left policy and allowed Labour to be pulled right, he won’t even commit to public spending reform.
Who is left in the party, with any power or influence at all, to advocate for left wing policy? Who in the party leadership will actually listen to left wing voices at party conferences? Why will the incredibly mercenary Labour right take left wing policy on board after spending the last 6+ years actively working against the Labour left?
Angela Rayner, the deputy leader? Anneliese Dodds, the chair? Ed Miliband, business secretary
Sure there are more…
And they all fell into line when Starmer’s leadership forbade Labour MPs from visiting strikers on the picket lines… something Labour MPs have done since the party’s formation. No longer the party of working people.
Again:
Let them win and (at the very least) be better for a bit, and then more progressive.
More likely they narrowly win, nothing changes and they alienate voters.
That’s quite a pessimistic view! The biggest problem is the budget is tanked. Can labour invest in the future and deal with the shitshow of the last few years? QE is the easy way out but can they do that without having various things go tits up? Else they need to be good economic managers for a few years then translate that into a base that you can invest from. It’s going to be super tricky. But they can do lots of small things, in all sorts of directions that are not funding based. Local neighborhood policy was in the news today as a wedge issue. But there are lots of others. The environment. Schooling policy. Zero hours contracts, taxation of web giants, migration. All of these would be dramatically different under labour and even if only one or two were, it’s still a reason to vote them over the Tories.