The polls suggest that the Labour Party are way behind the Tories despite the latter being in power for ten years or more. Recent elections have confirmed that many ex Labour voters, particularly in the north of the country, have switched allegiances; but why?
Could it be because the Labour Party was seen as the political wing of the Trade Unions and these have lost much of their influence with the decline of big industry. The biggest Unions, such as Unite, are those concerned with civil servants and because pay and conditions are subject to the public purse they are very limited in what they can do beyond sensible collective bargaining. In any case factors such as pay are determined by independant bodies with reference to the pay and conditions in the public sector.
So what can they do? They tried a form of communism, a socialist republic vision, under Corbyn but the public rejected that flat. The Party quickly took steps to change direction by changing their leader to Starmer but nobody now knew what the Party stood for. Not only that but the Parliamentary Labour Party is now composed of a diverse mixture of factions that seemingly will find it impossible to agree on anything. The remnant 'reds', the unforgiving 'remainers', the anti-zionists, republicans and their opposites. Starmer is struggling to find a clear message that would give any hope that a united Labour Party are fit to govern. Some suggest that could do worse than join the others with no identifiable role in life, the Liberal Democrats. Life is full of examples of the duality of nature. One such is the right way to govern and the other is the wrong way. If, at the polls, the public always choose the 'right' way then I can see that the Labour Party, as they currently are, are faced with years of electoral atrophy.
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