Stom wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2023 12:32 pm
I'm going to comment this here and not on the Gaza thread.
On Starmer and the Labour party.
So, I'm an outsider now. Unless the Tories get their way and extend the voting rights for overseas citizens, this will be my last election. And, as with nearly every other bloody election I've had the chance to vote in, I'll be voting Lib Dem. Is it because I agree with them? No, no I don't. But it's black and white in that constituency - orange or blue.
From what I see in the news, from people I know, and from interactions I have, the situation is very much...Labour are screwed.
And it's the same as here in Hungary.
There is just zero way to reframe the debate. Opinions have been made, and there is no changing them. So to go in and make a statement...you're at risk of pushing those voters who might just vote for you, or at worst abstain, into the hands of far right parties.
And to go with that, you have London, where the mayor has enacted a policy that is so badly supported that it has basically turned a large swathe of the populace right back into the hands of the Tory party once again. THAT was a massive political blunder, the new emissions law.
So, in terms of choices...what can Starmer and the Labour Party do?
Literally nothing.
They have no options this election cycle. They need to find a way to get a large enough majority to start to undo the damage...all the while people's minds are made up that Labour are awful communists who want to take away their hard earned pensions.
And a young vote who are so apathetic toward politics that even if Labour appealed to them, they wouldn't vote.
So, no, I think they're doing the best job they could do.
Politics is fucked.
I think Starmer and Labour aren't quite as constrained as that, but yes they have to be very, very careful.
I think their approach (with 5-13 months till the election) should be as follows:
Don't go out of your way to alienate anyone.
Try to convince the other side, appeal to all voters, but don't throw away your principles (which may mean criticising Israel etc).
In fact make your principles clear, so people understand why you are doing something they disagree with (which is in the end unavoidable). It's possible to reframe the debate.
Don't ignore your voter base.
Develop some distinct policies which are popular and difficult (or ideologically impossible) for the Tories to steal, eg green new deal, UK owned energy company, UK owned housebuilding company, UK owned water company, rebuild the NHS (reverse the creeping privatization), rebuild education (& tax private schools), replace the Lords with a Democratic chamber, much more stringent rules on MP corruption and second jobs, renegotiate Johnson's hopeless exit agreement with the EU, tax capital gains at same level as income tax, put in place an effective anti-pandemic plan (with a contact tracing system which would make lockdowns unnecessary).
Don't worry if this means you piss off the Telegraph et al, they're going to savage you anyway.
Whereas I think the Labour playbook is:
Say anything now; when the votes are in the bag, break any promise necessary.
Make a show of disagreeing with the Tories on most things but:
1) ideally have no policies in that area,
2) if necessary have a policy, but essentially the same as the Tories.
In the unlikely even that you have a distinct policy, If the Telegraph doesn't like it, water it down.
Never disagree with the Tories on Europe.
Never disagree with the US or Israel.
Fuck your voter base, young people, Muslims, they'll always vote Labour . . . won't they??