Stupid Northerners and Their Damned English Ways
Last night there was a fire at student accommodation in Bolton. Thankfully no one was killed. And since then a rolling wall of Labour supporters have been bombarding twitter saying things like this, and this, and this. Which leaves me wondering what exactly is their point.
But then I am often left wondering that about the Labour party.
Take this article from Labourlist by Theo Morgan.
“ The odds are stacked against Labour at this election. That isn’t just because of Brexit, or a well-funded Conservative campaign. It’s because the rules of the game favour the Tories. ”
Oh God, not this again. It comes as no surprise that Theo Morgan is ‘ a London regional representative’. It is equally unsurprising that what follows is politically illiterate.
Before going on, I should like to remind you of what lay behind Scottish and Welsh devolution: both places Labour had a majority, but Labour could not gain a majority in England. Therefore, so the thinking went, the Scots and the Welsh would be so happy if the Labour party gave them a parliament, they would not only continue to vote Labour but they would also act as a counter-weight against the English (who wouldn’t do what they were told): and when combined with the urban Labour vote the scheme would return perpetual Labour government.
The only problem was that Scotland went to the SNP within a decade, and hasn’t come back. The Welsh have to some extent left and returned, but in nothing like the numbers they did before.
Oh and English regions, whom Labour screwed over, like Yorkshire, the Midlands and the North West, during this process took every opportunity to display their displeasure, going so far as to stick two fingers up to London by elected BNP MEPs.
I should also like to point out there was a referendum on proportional representation in 2011, which rejected it.
But onwards…
“ If Labour stands for equality, it should be applied to our democracy. Resources in this election will not be going into Islington North, where Jeremy Corbyn has a majority of 33,000. The heavy campaigning will be in marginals such as Telford and Pudsey, where Tory MPs are defending majorities of just a few hundred. Under FPTP, the majority of votes will be wasted in seats where the outcome is a foregone conclusion.”
Yeah that’s right, you tell them Mr Morgan. Those damned northerners and their impudent valuable votes. How dare they have votes that matter. They should be like the voters of North Islington and fritter them away.
“ In order to form a government, Labour therefore has to ignore its most loyal voters, who are heavily concentrated in safe seats in cities like Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and London.”
I hate to tell you this Mr Morgan, but if those people in safe seats were to switch votes, or not vote — and this goes for all parties — then politicians would have to pay attention to them. But well done for admitting the basic problem of all political parties, that they take votes for granted.
“ FPTP also creates unequal Labour MPs. Those with safe seats have a level of job security that allows them to become frontbenchers or party leader. Conversely, MPs in marginals are less likely to progress.”
This is just nonsense. Plenty of MPs in marginal constituencies have progressed their careers, and in doing so have increased their majority. There are plenty of others who have sat in a safe seat for years and never reached office. Neither is better or worse. There are plenty of MPs who never advance off the back bench but do very valuable work. If anything a change in the voting system would magnify the problem of career politicians that has so blighted the current state of politics.
“ Losing our most marginal seats at this election will mean losing talented campaigning MPs like Emma Dent Coad, who won Kensington by just 20 votes.”
What is this Stalinist Russia, where failure is greeted with a bullet in the neck? Are you suggesting she can’t stand again? Or use her experience to find another seat?
“ A new voting system is needed to serve the diverse society Labour wishes to govern.”
Oh we are back to New Labour, I knew this was where all this was going. You don’t like the way people vote, so rather than win them over you want to rig the system to make their vote not count. The use of the word ‘diverse’ is particularly weaselly here, given Mr Morgan’s disdain for anyone outside of the power-hungry mono-culture he clearly desires.
Anyone who read the unhinged comments sections in the Guardian during the Brexit debate will be well aware of Mr Morgan’s views. Having wrecked the Labour party in Scotland, he, and his ilk, seem hell-bent to do the same in the North of England. One of the madder ideas put about during Brexit was to encourage the SNP to stand in Northern England. Because the SNP are ‘progressive’, and Pudsey, Telford and Scotland are all up that way somewhere: and they all talk with funny accents.
Contrary to you opening statement, Mr Morgan, the odds are not stacked against Labour. They never have been. Your prejudice and political vanity are blinding you. You are the problem, not the voters, nor the voting system.
