Opinion - Editorials   

Labour in deeper trouble

Last Thursday's mini-general election in Britain brought more bad news for the crisis-ridden Labour Party — and more humiliation for Prime Minister Tony Blair ahead of his forced retirement in July 2007. The headlines said it all. "Labour battering"; "Voters punish Labour"; "The final verdict on Blair"; and "Labour: the inquest begins" screamed the front pages as the party suffered bruising losses in Scotland, Wales, and across England. Despite Mr. Blair's emotional appeal to the voters not to give him a "kicking" as he would be "gone" soon anyway, they showed no mercy. In a drubbing of historic proportions, the party lost power both in Scotland and Wales, in addition to enduring embarrassingly heavy reverses in the English Council elections. Although the leadership tried to put on a brave face, dismissing the reverses as "mid-term blues" after 10 years in office, the mood among the party rank-and-file was less smug. Jon Cruddas, a senior Left-wing MP, called it a "wake-up call" the party could ill afford to ignore in the face of a threatening Tory revival.

The verdict from Scotland, traditionally regarded as a Labour stronghold, is seen as particularly damaging at a time when Gordon Brown, the most important Scottish Labour figure, is poised to become Britain's next Prime Minister. The emergence of the pro-independence Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) as the single largest party ended Labour's long dominance in Scotland and, as The Guardian pointed out, Mr. Brown would need "all his political authority and acumen" to repair the damage. Alex Salmond, the voluble SNP leader, may have been exaggerating when he claimed that Scotland had "changed for ever" but the fact that the mood North of the border had changed dramatically since the last election to the Scottish Parliament in 2003 was acknowledged by the Labour party's regional leader, Jack McConnell. He admitted that it was the "toughest and most hotly contested election in Scottish history." The outcome could have been even worse. Most opinion polls predicted a Labour "meltdown" but some explosive campaigning by the party's heavy-hitters and a last-minute surge against the SNP's separatist agenda helped Labour avoid a total rout. The results were also disappointing for Liberal Democrats who normally do well in regional elections. This was the first major electoral test for Menzies Campbell after he took over as party leader a year ago; he is widely seen to have flunked the test. Tories were the real winners, largely owing to their impressive performance in England. Naturally their leader David Cameron boasted that they were "on course" to win the next general election. Labour had better watch out.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Labour in deeper trouble
Ending the war on the roads
Key issues in the Sohrabuddin case
Global takeovers hit £1 trillion
Colby Buzzell, a king among blookers
Travel as the new tobacco-like curse
Report & rebuttal
Bullying tone
Severe indictment
Personal attacks
Shocking
"It is a fact that the Tamil people are doing well"

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu