Brendan O’Neill

23/11/2009

Uninspiring Labour on one side, visionless oppositionists on the other

Glasgow North East, where there’s still widespread poverty, might seem a million miles from the ridiculous pageantry of the State Opening of Parliament, when the bejewelled Queen turns up on a horse-drawn golden coach to tell us what “her” government plans to do in the coming year.

Yet both the recent by-election in Glasgow North East and this week’s Queen’s Speech shone a light on the current parlous state of British politics. And they revealed that it is not only Britain’s ruling party that is beset by crisis; so too are the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and the SNP.

The results of the by-election threw many. For months, Westminster-watchers have been telling us that Gordon Brown was doomed and that the newish kid on the block – shiny-haired, Blair-inspired David Cameron – would storm to power at the next General Election.
Yet in Glasgow North East, Labour won fairly easily, with 12,231 votes (59 per cent). The SNP came second with 4,120 votes (20 per cent), while the Tories came third with 1,075 votes (5.2 per cent), just 62 more than the British National Party (1,013 votes).

However, this was hardly a spectacular win for Labour. All the talk of a “tremendous” victory, and even of Brown “bouncing back”, is misplaced.

Labour did not inspire or enthuse voters (as demonstrated by the fact that turnout was 33 per cent, the lowest ever recorded for a parliamentary election in Scotland). Instead it used the politics of fear and was the beneficiary of Scotland’s own version of anti-government (ie anti-SNP) sentiment.

Labour loyalists campaigned mainly on a ticket of anti-BNP fears. They warned voters that if they didn’t come out and support Labour, the fascists might get in. Meanwhile, the awfulness of the result for the SNP in Glasgow North East suggests that, with the onset of economic crisis, some Scottish voters are keen to register a protest against their ruling party. Labour benefited from this outburst of “anti-government” sentiment.

This bitter win exposed Labour’s lack of political vision and isolation; it had to flood a super-safe constituency with fearmongering campaigners to cling to power.

Glasgow North East also revealed something important about the Tories. For all the Westminster-watchers’ interest in Cameron’s “new way” of “doing politics”, the Tories remain deeply unpopular across vast swathes of Britain.

In large parts of Scotland, especially the more deprived areas, and in the north west of England, particularly Manchester and Liverpool, the Tories are still seen as political personas non grata. Many people in these working-class areas would never dream of voting Tory. So while they might decide to not vote for Labour at the next General Election, it is unlikely that they will enthusiastically switch to Cameron instead. Glasgow North East shows that, while Labour is at sea, it’s far from guaranteed that Cameron will enjoy a Blair-style sweep to power next year.

Following all this, the Queen’s Speech revealed the dearth of serious political debate today. Labour’s proposed bills were a combination of authoritarianism (more crime and security measures) and populism (clampdowns on bankers’ bonuses).

Yet how did the other parties respond? Not by putting forward an alternative, more serious vision for the future of Britain, but by calling for the Queen’s Speech to be cancelled so that ministers could focus instead on “cleaning up” parliament after the expenses scandal.
So on one side we have isolated Labour putting forward uninspiring ideas, and on the other side visionless oppositionists asking for politics to be completely put on hold.

If this is the choice at the forthcoming General Election, turnout will probably hover around 33 per cent everywhere.

Brendan O’Neill is editor of independent political site Spiked, www.spiked-online.com