Ed Miliband claims that Labour are winning back the trust of voters and some are even hailing the results of the recent Local
Elections as some sort of validation of his Leadership. And of course the results have been taken as a validation of Labour in general, as a
potential Government; the result returning Labour to power if played out in a general election.
Ed Miliband amongst his followers
For some reason Ed thinks he's popular...
As always it is b*lls**t, obviously perpetrated by
the Labour propaganda machine, but also by a media that has little else to do,
other than attempt to devise powerful headlines and sound-bites.
In these very hard times under a particularly unpopular
coalition government, Labour could have wiped the floor with the Tories, as
some opinion polls had been suggesting. But they got around 38-39% of the vote (Tories 31%) on a
turnout of 32%...
12.5% of those able could be bothered to vote for Labour. Barely
1/8th of the electorate backed Labour and because of this the Labour
party have both power in many crucial areas and also momentum. That’s a
particularly small minority having a major say over what happens in British
politics and society, if it was played out across the country in a general
election it would be a travesty.
A travesty, right now...
While the apathy has of course been noted, no-one could fail
to address it; they still trumpeted Labour’s ‘success’, alongside the Tory
losses.
But it was only 12.5% of the electorate in these circumstances and you also have to look at the areas of the country involved.
Though granted Labour did well in places like Chipping Norton and Southampton, taken
from the Tories, the rest was the North, Scotland and Wales; Labour
strongholds
The SNP probably would have liked to stretch away from Labour
in Scotland and it remains a fundamental area for Labour support, and in Wales
the result is verging on meaningless, this is nothing new and I have mentioned
it before. They’ll vote for Labour almost whatever happens; Labour could put a
pig…
Still they spin results like those in Wales. Alastair Campbell thought Twitter users would be interested in his thoughts on Labour's success in Wales. The Labour propaganda machine never stops spinning...
Alastair Campbell taking time out from the Ministry of Truth
Still doing some
freelance spinning…
Current cutbacks aside, around 1/5th of the working
population is employed in the public sector, there are regional variations and
where are the higher proportions…?
Public sector map of the UK
In many of the areas that voted in the local elections.
Labour winning back voters’ trust…? It could just as easily
have been their highly motivated supporters in the public sector. The Unions,
students, the Left; those who’ve loudly stated their opposition to this
Government, these groups could easily make up 12.5% in those areas, without any
trouble. But no-one mentions that.
What the results really showed was simply apathy towards
politics and perhaps a general disdain for politicians.
Labour are winning by default, Miliband certainly is.
Who in their right mind would want this man as Prime
Minister??!
We can't believe it either Ed, it's unreal...
The Unions?
'Stick to the script you Muppet...'
Just think if they’d picked David instead…
Ed and David Miliband, brotherly love...?
David probably wanting to say what we all think...
Boris Johnson didn't suffer from any backlash in London, although that election did take on a life
of its own with personalities apparently overtaking everything else; the
turnout was higher than the national average (38%) and they turned out to vote for a Tory.
Boris Johnson - Very much a Tory…
There was a turnout of 41% in the local elections last year,
though the referendum would have had some effect. The Tories and LibDems did worse this year but on a much lower turnout. The
increasing ‘anger’ wasn't evident, though the Left would like to present it
that way.
That’s not to say people aren’t unhappy with the Government,
it’s just that they don’t see Labour as a credible alternative.
Preaching to the choir...?
Although the whole country didn't go to the polls, as I
suggested in the last post the recent opinions polls weren't played out across
the nation. On Sunday (6th May) YouGov put Labour on a 12 point lead.
UKIP did better in terms of share (13%) and so did the LibDems
(16%); not nearly as bad for them as polls had suggested and their more
traditional heartlands in the South didn't vote. They did lose councillors, but
it should have been much worse.
Trying to think of worse scenarios...?
Many commentators seemed to ignore this, for instance
pointing to the drop from the 2010 election, but that result was less than
polling at the time.
Commentators, like the Labour Party, want to pretend they know
what ‘the people’ are thinking all of the time.
But look at that 2010 result; how much has changed if we
compare to these recent results? The Tories currently on 31%, they only got 36%
in 2010 and Labour have picked up around 10% since the general election, when
they were supposed to be at rock bottom…! UKIP seem to have made the same sort
of gains as Labour, looking at the 2010 figures, obviously a large proportion
coming from the Tories.
The fact is Labour’s strong core support has remained and it
is quite obvious why I have been writing about it since the general election,
and there were many around the fringes of that core that quickly went back to
them when they saw the alternative.
Ed Miliband addresses the protesters
With the Socialist leader Francois Hollande winning the French Presidency there does seem to be the beginning of a seachange in European politics as many hail this as the first major
rejection of austerity. We’re living in hard times and few like cuts in
spending, least of all the French. The Greeks too are not happy and there was a
backlash in their recent elections, but then their economy is ruined and it’s going to take a
lot of work to sort it out, it'll be no picnic, publicly funded or otherwise…
But there seems to be a need to state the blindingly
obvious; Britain is not France, Miliband is not Hollande, so to their parties.
I don’t pretend to know a great deal about the current state
of French politics; but the Left in Britain cheering Hollande’s win as if it is
some sort of endorsement of the Labour Party and their policies are quite
simply having a laugh, whichever way you look at it.
Francois Hollande and Ed Miliband
'What is ze joke?'
Ed Miliband is still amused...
A low turnout is no good, the results are manipulated for propaganda and
power is given away too cheaply, to the often undeserving. People need to vote
for something else, to go out and vote, but choose something different (certain
extremists excluded…).
Clearly there is a dislike of the main parties and this has
to be seen in the next election. Maybe then some real reform can happen.
Miliband and the like say they want to engage and reach out
to the disaffected but the fact is if people don’t vote, it won’t matter to
them. Labour haven’t changed and they won’t need to unless voters go out and
force change in politics.
12.5% of the electorate holding sway over the rest of the
population? Is that fair for all...??
The cover of Labour's 2010 Manifesto
The public servants controlled all they could see...
Do people really want
to let the Labour Party control the future…?
Gordon Brown...
Is always watching…
