Opinion
Let’s See
Ben Wildsmith
News that Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana plan to lead a left-wing party into the next election sets up an interesting dynamic. Whilst Labour is used to concerted pressure from Plaid Cymru here and the SNP in Scotland, the Greens pose a less immediate threat in England, where radicalism has been allowed to bleed away to the right.
Long-rumoured, confirmation that a new party is being formed comes as Labour faces an existential crisis of identity. Last-week’s U-turn on benefits revealed the strange and unenviable territory from which the party is trying to govern.
As Rachel Reeves grizzled behind him, Keir Starmer ploughed on obliviously at the despatch box. The following day’s spin exhorted us all to acknowledge the Chancellor’s ‘human side’, as if breaking down in public is somehow a signifier of decency.
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Bitterly disappointing
For English voters who care about this sort of thing, Labour’s first year has been bitterly disappointing.
On every issue of moral substance, it seems that the front bench is instinctively out of step with the people who voted for it. From Palestine to benefits, the government has had to be dragged towards the light by its backbenchers and, increasingly, an incensed majority of public opinion.
This would be more comprehendible if the party showed any sign of winning over people it has lost to Reform UK. The truth is that flag-shagging faux-patriotism and authoritarian disregard for human rights has to be delivered by someone with a track record of believing in that sort of thing. Starmer, Nandy, Cooper et al are transparently prostituting their former beliefs for votes. Whether you’re a deport-them-all racist or an execute-the-royals anarchist you can clock a fake when you see one.
It's worse than that, though. Even the great mass of broadly decent folk who can’t stand politics and would rather not discuss it have turned. As much as this cabinet isn’t full of real socialists, or real patriots, it’s startlingly short of capable centrists too. Its presentation is poor, its policies fall apart, and its personalities are loathsomely self-obsessed careerist hacks with no vision or care for your life.
And there’s potentially four more years of this.
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Terminal toxicity
Plaid Cymru’s recent messaging indicates that it’s well-aware that Labour has tipped into terminal toxicity. On social media, criticism of the party is most often concerned with its closeness to Labour. If the UK party continues on its present path, then distance from it will be politically fruitful for Plaid long after the Senedd election.
The UK, all of it, is in crisis. Nobody is happy with life here, nor the prospects we are being offered for the future. If radicalism is once-again to be politically represented in England, then Plaid Cymru should be in dialogue with its representatives.
A respectable progressive force in England must reject the centralising intransigence that has been the hallmark of Starmer’s Labour. Instead, Plaid Cymru and the SNP should insist on input into how such a party sees the future of the UK. Recognition of our right to self-determination, and meaningful devolution of powers are a reasonable price for confidence and supply discussions that could, potentially, include individual Labour representatives.
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Tumult
The tumult is only going to intensify in the short term. As it overtakes a dull political class in Westminster, all sorts of benefits might squirt out of the back of the scrum for Cymru, Scotland, the environment, and anything else around which people cohere.
A new progressive party in England is a good thing. It’s something we can do business with, something that can be encouraged to speak our name in rooms where cheques are signed.
Eventually, it’s something with which we might negotiate a harmonious union. Let’s see.
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