Thursday 20 May 2021

Time for progressive alliance

Is it time for progressive alliance? 

Yes and here is why. 

Personally as a Labour voter, I would want Labour to win general election with a majority. I am now at the point to say that is no longer possible. I mean let’s face it, Labour are behind the polls as Conservative are leading it nationally. 

The local election result (2021 local election results) were electoral disaster for the Labour Party under the leadership of Keir Starmer.

Local election results (in terms of councils & councillors in England) shows not an impressive results for Labour & Tory gains. It really shows that Keir Starmer have not done well to hold the government to account. Imagine if it is a big deal (general election) then it would been disaster electorally for Lab. it seems Labour are not seemingly getting better especially that Jeremy Corbyn is not a leader anymore as of last year. 

Labour not gaining many councillors & councils in England while the Tories & small opposition parties like Liberal Democrats & Greens gain enough councillors & councils.

At least Labour had done okay in Wales (Welsh government is still Labour & that it always been Labour since the start of devolution in the late 90s) and metropolitan areas in England (cities like London, Manchester and Liverpool) as Labour have most direct metro mayors in England. 

Broadly speaking, it was a mixture of good and bad although mostly it was all bad for Labour in terms of losing Hartlepool to the Conservatives in Parliamentary by election. Conservatives having the most councils & councillors. Even in Scotland, Labour have been ranked third opposition party since 2017 as they didn’t do well in Scotland (given it was not expected for Labour to perform well) & Conservatives being the main opposition party in the Scottish Parliament. The SNP who are in power in Scotland have a coalition government with the Green Party (Scottish Greens). Especially after winning an election two weeks ago for the mandate for another vote on Scottish Independence (which I will talk more about it on later date). 

In the light of disappointing results for Labour, what did Sir Keir Starmer do? Sacking deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner as party chair. Seriously, how is that taking responsibility when Labour didn’t performed well in local council elections in England? google.co.uk independent.co.uk Now, opinion poll have found that Starmer is worse than his predecessor (Corbyn). google.co.uk 

It is unbelievable. Shockingly unbelievable. 

If Labour really wants to be back in power after more than 10 years since 2010 and to avoid a fifth consecutive election defeat, then they have to adopt policies (like Universal basic income, green new deal & putting a end to years of austerity) that can win people over and to find a common ground with the Lib Dems, SNP, Plaid & Greens in terms of working together to prevent the Tories winning a general election. This was a missed opportunity for Labour & opposition parties in 2019 to work together to prevent Boris Johnson winning the election. At the time, Brexit was a big topic. PM Boris Johnson illegally prologued the parliament, misled the Queen & the ruling of Supreme Court ruled that it was unlawful. bbc.co.uk & then he (the Prime Minister) called for an election. You know if the progressive parties worked together instead of bickering & ripping each other to shred (including Jo Swinson, SNP & Jeremy Corbyn not wanting to work together) then the UK would had an coalition progressive government & that we would had an second Brexit referendum by now and the UK would had voted against leaving the European Union & remaining an member of the EU (or still wants Brexit to implement). The Brexit matter would had been settled with another public vote (& that in my view, it would had gone for Remain) & the government would had handled the Covid 19 pandemic swiftly better if Boris Johnson didn’t win a big Tory Majority in December 2019 general election. 


Instead, that didn’t happen in 2019 election. So now Labour is back to square one. It is time that Keir Starmer backs the approach for progressive alliance with Greens, Plaid, Lib Dems & SNP if he really wants to be the next prime minister by next general election in 2024 or sooner than 2024. 

First past the post is no longer a fit for purpose. In general elections, it favours two main parties: Conservative and Labour. Yet in local elections with different voting system, it benefits small parties (Greens & Liberals). 

It is high time that we should go for PR. Proportional representation & that is the only way. It is time for progressive alliance & finding a common ground that can successfully stop the Tories from winning the next general election. 

No wonder now, the Tories wants to be in power for another decade given they have destroyed the UK with the divisive Brexit topic, brought austerity measures that have seen cuts to funding of public services, awfully mishandled the coronavirus pandemic & now they want to push ahead with the controversial voter ID so that they can win elections comfortably & turning the UK into one party state (which it will be a nightmare. No opposition party challenging the Tories). Like China for instance. This cannot be the future for Britain. Labour better get their act together if they want really to be back in the government & to work together with parties to make sure that Conservatives (regardless who is prime minister: Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Priti Patel, Michael Gove, etc) does not win general election successfully again.


Since the existence of the UK Labour Party in 20th century as it was born out of the Trade Unions, Labour have 6 six prime ministers. Only three elected Labour prime ministers have won general elections comfortably. Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson & Tony Blair. Will Starmer be 4th to win an election & overall, become 7th Labour PM? Time will tell. Only if Labour can work together with Greens & Lib Dems then everything is possible. If not, Labour will be out of power for another decade & that is why it should not be the case. Progressive alliance can happen if Keir Starmer is up to it. 

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