Black Wizard wrote:No response to the election result then? I'm assuming you're all still in shock or in a state of depression.
It looks like the Labour/Green coalition predicted by this forum's voting intentions was way off the mark.
I'm not particularly shocked. In hindsight, Labour's brexit message should have been to officially support upholding the result of the referendum but to renegotiate to ensure any withdrawal agreement benefited the majority of the public, rather than an elite few whose primary concern is not paying their fair share of tax. That way, they may not have lost so many of their previous safe seats.
Or at the very least to say that they would take their renegotiated deal to a 2nd referendum with the option of remain but as a party they would remain neutral, reiterating that Cameron should have adopted that position originally.
Either of those messages would have cut through to the electorate much better than the message they eventually ended up with.
There's no doubt the perception of Corbyn as an individual and a leader was an issue as well - what proportion of that is rooted in fact and what proportion is down to a mostly right-wing media vehemently going after him like they haven't done to other Labour leaders in the past, is another conversation.
Having said all that, I don't believe that voters in these Northern & Midlands constituencies have voted for Boris because they've suddenly adopted Tory values across the board. Boris should be self-aware enough to release these are lent votes that are conditional. If he doesn't deliver on their expectations in 5 years and the brexit golden goose doesn't start laying its eggs in these towns, then they will not be so quick to vote for him again.
Despite the above, I genuinely believe Keir Starmer is Labour's best hope of regaining ground in 5 years and pushing to win in 10 years, provided he owns and then effectively distances himself from his previous pro-Remain position and changes the conversation to be about protecting the rights of ordinary citizens, which I believe he's good enough to do. I just hope that the ridiculous identity politics being pushed by the Guardian and Momentum don't throw away a chance at a Starmer-led Labour party, just because he's not a woman or he's a London-based MP.
If he's hounded out because of this, or because he's not 'Left-wing enough' for some members of the party then I would genuinely despair at who to vote for the next time round as it will be difficult to vote for a party that will have shot themselves in the foot so badly, just to appease an angry, woke mob of Twitter shouters.