The Labour defeat

The victory of Conservatives and the defeat of Labour Party was not surprising as all the opinion polls and surveys were indicating such an outcome in the December 12 British general elections.

The Conservatives maintained their lead over Labour throughout the election campaign. But the scale of the Labour defeat was surprising. Labour even lost seats in its traditional strongholds in the North-Midlands and Wales.

It was a disappointing night for the Labour Party as it lost 2.5 million votes and 59 seats, reduced to 203 seats. The Conservatives won a clear majority with 365 seats. It is undoubtedly a big setback for the working class and Left politics not only in Britain but internationally too.

The rightwing corporate media and capitalist ruling class is using the defeat of the Labour Party to discredit the leftwing radical programme and working class politics. They are arguing that state interventionist policies and a radical programme based on nationalisation and public ownership is old fashioned and outdated. For them- there is no viable alternative to the neoliberal free market economic model.

The rightwing corporate media-political analysts and Blairites within the Labour Party are blaming the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and his leftwing radical programme for this defeat. This is not true. The same Corbyn leadership with his radical reformist programme made gains in the 2017 general elections. The Labour Party got 40 percent votes in 2017 which were just 2.2 percent less than the Tory vote. In 2017, Labour gained 3.5 million votes and 30 seats under his leadership.

Now the question arises: if the Corbyn leadership and his radical programme are not the main factors behind this defeat, then who is responsible? Which factors caused this defeat? Brexit and smears against Corbyn mainly cost this election.

This election was dominated by the Brexit issue. Many voters were not happy with the delay in Brexit. They wanted to end the stalemate on this issue. And Tory leader Boris Johnson emerged as the main leader willing to deliver Brexit.

Ever since 2016, Brexit has been dominating British politics. This issue has not only divided the political establishment and society but also the ruling class. How Brexit impacted this election can be assessed from this fact: 63 out of 66 new seats won by Conservatives were from areas that voted Leave in the EU referendum.

According to the Lord Ashcroft Polls, 80 percent of Leave voters who wanted to get on with Brexit voted Conservative, with 11 percent choosing Labour and 4 percent the Brexit Party. Fifteen percent of voters said they would probably have voted for a different party had Brexit not been on the agenda at this election.

It is also important to remember that the 2016 Brexit vote was, to a large extent, a protest vote by people in the poorest and most deprived areas of Wales and the north-east of England, who have suffered decades of neglect, unemployment, poverty and deprivation. Mines have been shut down and industry decimated. There is high unemployment, housing crisis and crippling services in these areas and many working class people blame the EU for the pathetic conditions they are forced to live in.

Under pressure from the Blairite rightwing within the Labour Party, Corbyn changed his original position on Brexit to respect the verdict of the people to complete Brexit. He started talking about the second referendum on Brexit. This new position angered many working class voters of the Labour Party who changed political loyalty and voted for Conservatives in this election.

The Labour Party with its original position on Brexit kept its Leave voters intact in 2017 elections. However, it was the compromises that the Labour leadership made with the Blairites that are the central reason for this defeat, above all on Brexit. Swathes of working-class Leave-voting areas saw Labour as a ‘Remain’ party. The change in the position before 2019 elections drifted away important support base of the party in working class areas. The Brexit proved to be the decisive factor. The Brexit issue made the objective situation complicated and complex. This issue created lot of confusion among the different communities.

The other important factor that played big role in this defeat was vicious propaganda and character assassination campaign against Jeremy Corbyn by the rightwing corporate media- establishment and Blairites faction of Labour party. They join hands to defeat the Jeremy Corbyn and successfully accomplished their mission. The Blairites rightwing was more interested and keen to defeat Corbyn than to defeat Tory party.

The monstrous smear campaign pales in insignificance beside the avalanche of lies, vitriol, poison and slander that characterised this election. The mass media were mobilised with only one end in mind: the political and personal destruction of Jeremy Corbyn. The ruling class mobilised all its resources to crush Jeremy Corbyn and prevent a Labour victory.

Labour wins over the overwhelming majority of young voters in the UK. Corbyn-led Labour did better than Blair-led Labour in its landslide victory in 1997 among young voters aged 18 to 34 years. Fifty-seven percent young men and 65 percent young women voted

for Corbyn-led labour. Labour failed to impress the older voters

who overwhelmingly voted for the Tory Party.

Even though Jeremy Corbyn failed to win the general election, he will be remembered for two things. One, he challenged the neoliberal economic model and put forward a clear alternative. He popularised the idea of nationalisation and public ownership. Two, he revitalised and energised the Labour Party.

Corbyn gave a new lease of life to a dying party. Tony Blair won three elections but decimated the party under his leadership.

The writer is a freelance journalist.