Dear All
When you join a political party, you hope that the leadership of that party is in touch with the desires and aspirations of the people of the UK. The Labour Party keeps losing elections, this is because of a number of issues such as supporting Brexit, adopting a mindset that they are "managers" of the people and not representatives of the people. Embracing identity politics, promoting discrimination, thinking that woke politics is a good idea. Being weak on women's rights and being weak on the Union. As a former member of the party, I was always treated as an outsider, and never welcomed. The Labour Party was established as a party of and for working class people. It has been hijacked by a university educated middle class 'elite' which has no interest in working class people. It espouses previous achievements of 70 plus years ago as a reason why people should vote for them, whilst their modern day actions show clearly that working class people turn away from them.
The right wing of the Labour Party wants a return to the heyday of 'Blairism', but the fact is people have left the Labour Party behind because of that very fact. Blairism masks itself as 'progress' or some other label, but no matter what coat of paint it uses, people know that the university educated middle class 'elite' doesn't stand for them. Have you ever asked yourself, why Labour is run by millionaires, Keir Starmer, and Anas Sarwar, why isn't run by working class people? Is it because they are smarter? Well I would suggest that the results of elections and polling and policies clearly show that it isn't. The "rules" which apply to working class members can be 'waived' by the leadership to promote certain individuals, like it was done in Batley and Spen by-election. Other rules are put in place to discriminate against people, and this discrimination is openly practiced, if a person cannot win on merit or ability, then the rules are changed so that the leadership can 'game the system'. This is what the right wing of the Labour Party do, a recent example was the selection of the Glasgow Regional list. The top three places were won in an open and free contest which another set of rules were introduced to change the result. This is how former MSP James Kelly lost his seat after coming 3rd in the contest. Kelly won double the amount of votes in Glasgow than the person who took his spot. So basically, you can have a selection contest under one set of rules, but after voting closes, another set of rules apply. James Kelly's consolation prize was to get the position as Scottish Labour General Secretary which I believe has a £50k salary. During the selection process for the Glasgow Regional list there were two separate attempts to sabotage the only viable left wing candidate standing which I have mentioned before on social media.
You might be tempted to say, what about Angela Rayner, she is from the left, and she is deputy leader. Well, she is puppet, her position is to give the illusion of unity in the Labour Party. She represents no actual threat to the right wing of the party, and I direct your attention to her recent 'toryscum' outburst at the Labour Party conference. Although some say that this is Angela Rayner's leadership bid, it is nothing of the sort. It was a stupid act to fire up people who are either 'bigots' or too stupid to not understand the wider picture. For a fuller in depth analyse of her remarks then click on the link below.
A lot of people have deserted the Labour Party, which is why we saw the collapse of Labour heartlands, the 'red wall' fell because people no longer believe that the Labour Party stands for them. Although there will be an election in 2024, the Labour Party will not win it. The Labour Party cannot win back Scotland under a right wing leadership, and the cuckoo in the nest is Anas Sarwar, because will lead Scottish Labour into defeat just as he led them into defeat earlier this year. Sarwar secured the worst defeat at Holyrood since devolution began. Scotland is gone as a Labour stronghold through bad policies and bad politicians. I am not saying anything new regarding this, but what you should focus on is how the party in Scotland has refused to change. If you lose an election, you analyse what went wrong, when you keep losing, using the same people, and the same format, you realise the problem is them, and what they are doing, or more specifically what they are not doing. This is the area that Labour in Scotland needs to focus on, what they are not doing. And there is plenty that they are not doing such as rebuilding their activist base, changing their campaigning model and being inclusive. Scottish Labour is in a bubble, and while they are in the bubble, the quality of decisions just keeps on getting worse.
One of the truly massive mistakes of the last 5 years was the decision of Labour to campaign against Brexit. The Labour Party run by the right wing is a 'remainer' party to this date. It would take the UK back into the EU, although they would do this by stages. The Labour leadership won't say they will rejoin the EU openly, but they couch their betrayal of the British people by saying they want a 'better' deal through either a customs union or single market deal. Then if they get that passed, down the line, they would create a narrative to sell rejoining the EU as something good for the UK. I suppose you would ask, where is the proof of this, well I would direct you to the fact that Keir Starmer is an arch-Remainer. Has he suddenly seen the light and been converted to being a Brexiter, well no is the short answer. Brexit was the biggest betrayal of the modern era by the Labour Party when they directly campaigning against leaving, by default and the working class. This is why the 'red wall' collapsed, it was a ratner's moment in the minds of the British people. They woke up and ask themselves, 'why am I voting for people who not only don't represent or help me but actively work against me as a working class person'. It is a bit like have woken up to a relationship that is based on abuse, and then getting angry.
Brexit has been good for the UK, it was also necessary, yes, there are problems, yes, there will be an adjustment, but any change will involve change. All the talk of doom and collapse of the UK hasn't happened. Even EU politicians of various hues recognise this fact as true. At the present moment, the UK like many EU countries has an HGV driver shortage, the 'remainers' and the press (BBC) have tried to create a narrative this was caused by Brexit. The real reason for driver shortages, and this is the same in the UK and EU is 'pay and conditions'. Because of the EU, employers used cheap foreign labour to suppress wages in the UK, that is a fact. Another downside of the cheap labour market was the failure to train up British people for those low paid jobs, people go to work for money, they seek the highest rate of pay possible to support them and their families. If you had the choice of £13 hr as a driver or £22hr in another job, are you going to listen to someone's pitch that you should go do the poor paid job? No, you are not, and especially when the person telling you to accept less has a high paying job.
As an example of failing the working class people of the UK, Sir Keir Starmer's is calling for the UK to be flooded with cheap labour in the shape of 100,000 foreign lorry drivers. He wants them to be granted visas to come to the UK. Where was Keir Starmer previously in standing up for British workers on low pay, where was the action, where was the policies, where was the Labour values, not of today, but of 50 to 70 years ago? Keir Starmer and his team do not have working class values, they never did, they are the worst type of people, they are the people who have done well for themselves and at the same time, do everything possible to pull the ladder up to stop working class people progressing. You see this all the time in parties were people call themselves 'socialist' or social democrat, they literally don't give a fuck about the working class. Because of the driver shortage right across the EU, I find it doubtful any scheme is really viable, in Germany, they need 45,000 additional HGV drivers, and similar problems exist in Spain as well as other EU countries. One thing that all countries must now address is the 'pay and conditions' of those who transport goods across the EU and UK. The life of an HGV driver on short and long haul isn't glamorous, there is an element of danger as well as we have seen on TV of those who travel from Europe into the UK.
Earlier, I talked about how the Labour Party is still a remainer party, well, I am sure you can google and research this to satisfy yourself, but here is a link to ponder.
https://www.policyforum.labour.org.uk/commissions/rejoin-single-market-and-customs-union
The ultimate goal is to rejoin the EU via a series of steps, and every step taken is leading to a betrayal of the British people. Brexit means more jobs in this country for people who live here, they are and should be the first priority of any party. So, you have to ask why the Labour Party of 2021 under right wing control doesn't agree with that concept. Why doesn't the Labour Party want working class people to succeed in life? Why do they want working class people to have less opportunities in jobs, in housing, in education and in social mobility? You see that is what joining any vehicle to take the UK back into the EU means coupled with all the barriers already in place which working class people experience.
Finally, Rachel Reeves, the Labour shadow chancellor said that people queuing for fuel 'couldn’t care less whether the HGV driver that has got the petrol to the forecourt is British or foreign'. In that respect in the 'moment of need', it wouldn't really cross their mind, so she would be right. But, when given enough time to make a logical choice rather than an emotional choice, the people of the UK voted by a majority to leave the European Union after 47 years of membership, they sat down and thought about it. And when they added everything up, looking at who said what and when and how, they voted leave. As people go to the Labour Conference in Brighton this week, we will see people being interviewed, and if you get the right ordinary delegate or member on TV, they will tell you Labour's problems. The fundamental fact which you will come across is the Labour Party don't listen to the people, and aren't interested in helping the people. One woman interviewed said is plain and straightforward, the Labour Party, and by that she means the leadership is disconnected from the people. The Labour Party needs to sell a vision, but that is hard when the offer to the people is not in line with their goals and aspirations, how do you sell, 'we will do nothing for you, and work against you'? This is why the Labour Party keeps losing elections!
Yours sincerely
George Laird The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
1 comment:
I joined the workforce in late 1974 and I understood why people voted Tory in 1979. But I was surprised that Thatcher won the next two elections and Major won the 1992 election. I couldn't understand why the electorate preferred the Tories over Labour. After experiencing Labour in power as an adult, I soon understood why and the reason they lost four elections in a row. I said here on this blog, years ago, that Labour won't be elected again until half the population is dead and the other half does not remember how awful Lie@bour's policies were. In my opinion, Labour treated the poorest and less able with utter contempt, to a level that even the Conservatives would not go to. Now, I don't know about the rest of the readers reading this blog, but I was under the impression that the labour and trade union movement was pro-working class, not anti-working class. I still forecast that Labour will be out of power until 2028 at the earliest. I will always, no matter what circumstances I find myself in, I will never, ever vote Labour again.
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