No idea where Clacton is but I can assume it’s voting Demographic is cunty
The protest vote is real, esp knowing it was going to be a Labour landslide.
Interesting that in many of the early results, it wasn’t Labour picking up VOTES, it was Labour picking up SEATS, because Reform was taking Tory votes.
There is a lesson in that, if it gets through the cacophony of the historic Labour landslide.
The Right was hurt by a rising Far Right, not the Left, and thus the Far Right will feel emboldened not only by their votes, but their increasing ability to say “I told you so!” if their core platform issues are not only not addressed, but get worse.
Labour will be especially happy that the Far Right harmed the Right (much as the Far Left harms the Left in the States) and that their majority provides significant POLITICAL insulation.
However, in an era of reflexive social media, politics today is increasingly fluid and reactionary, and sea change occurs far quicker than anyone predicted just a few years ago. Both Macron and Sunak have been taught valuable lessons that Starmer would do well to heed.
Social Policies need to be carefully managed to ensure they serve the constituents that brought them to the dance, while ensuring they do as much as possible to snuff out the inevitable negative commentary from the Right & extreme Right.
A stronger immigration policy coupled with a “home front” social agenda feels, from 4,000 miles away (and talking to my educated siblings), to be the sweet spot for Starmer and Labour, if they can corral their party to accept that it is the path to long term power.
I will be interested to see the ongoing analysis and predictions, both in the media and from the broad spectrum (!) of Bluemooners who engage in political discourse.
We’ve got enough of our own SERIOUS problems over here to keep my reading list full, but my thoughts are never far from home (which is Manchester, by way of Torquay, for those who get sucked in by the screen name).
Good luck to us all!
