The English Left blogger Mark Scott says Labour both north and south of the border must take note of the bigger picture
FOR us on the left down here, it’s been a tough couple of years.
While the Scottish left has been almost universally united in bringing around #Scotref, the English left has been left bewildered after the initial exhilaration of the Green surge and Corbynmania.
The retreat of Green support and grim reality of navigating the archaic bureaucracy of the Labour party have left us feeling despondent. Add into the mix a resurgent Lib Dems, a righter than right Tory Party and it’s looking very grim down south.
Refusal to accept Corbynism and the independence argument is killing the English and Scottish parties respectively.
A reluctance of Labour stalwarts to accept change is a huge part of the problem and that’s something that applies to the party both north and south of the border. Refusal to accept Corbynism and the independence argument is killing the English and Scottish parties respectively.
Take my local MP, Stella Creasy, who supported the bombing of Syria and has failed to address the rising academisation of our schools in my borough of London – much to the chagrin of the local community. She has complete control of our local Constituency Labour Party to the extent that her mum and dad hold very prominent positions both on the general committee and in the affiliated Co-operative party.
Ears are closed to new ideas and those on the right are masters of manipulating the rulebook. Sadly, this sense of entitlement runs true with the majority of the Labour old guard.
Bizarrely, I met Tom Watson after Black Sabbath’s last ever gig in Birmingham. He was waiting on the same rammed train back to the city centre from the venue and we had a good chat. He is an extremely affable man.
However, his personable nature is completely at odds with his approach to Momentum. I can understand that he doesn’t want to see the Labour party die and therefore is ultra protective over the way in which it is headed. But sadly, a reluctance to embrace the youth and energy that has now entered the party is exactly what will be the death of it.
There is simply no way that people like me would have ever entered Labour without the emergence of Momentum. It took a great deal to make that step from supporting Corbyn to actually joining a party that was happy to take us to war in Iraq. Especially as a Scot, who witnessed what Scottish Labour did to my homeland over the years.
Corbynistas made compromises in joining and giving the party the largest membership in Europe. Yet, the old guard refuse to compromise on anything at all. The new blood is not respected nor embraced. They want us gone. I’m sick of hearing how this is the 1980s part II, and how a progressive alliance won’t work because it didn’t then, how the left “destroyed” the party in the 80s.
It’s time to move with the times and the times are very different. On a Scottish level, that means embracing the inspirational Labour For Indy movement. Down here, it’s a case of giving us newcomers a voice.
It’s time to move with the times and the times are very different. On a Scottish level, that means embracing the inspirational Labour For Indy movement. Down here, it’s a case of giving us newcomers a voice.
Momentum is part of that voice. If it is taken away, then another generation of hopers will become disillusioned with politics. They will retreat into smaller, less effective groupings or they will simply give up and leave us with a frankly dangerous future.
This fight is far greater than the Labour party, when will they awaken to that fact?
Picture courtesy of Gwydion M. Williams
Check out what people are saying about how important CommonSpace is. Pledge your support today.
