Like a huge number of people I’ve was left numb by the election result – not so much by Labour losing but by the Tory majority. I had not, in reality, expected Labour to win but I had hoped for a broad coalition of the left (Greens, Labour, Plaid and the SNP). What I certainly didn’t want and what the country doesn’t need is an unrestrained Tory party with scores to settle and points to prove. We don’t always get what we want, and it seems we’re not going to get what we need. Labour has imploded and currently seems more intent on navel-gazing, finger-pointing and playing the blame game, it’s going to be some time before they offer any real opposition to the Tories or pay attention to the electorate – mind you, had they paid attention in the first place they wouldn’t be in this position. Having spent their time talking with, asking questions of and listening to the electorate whilst Labour’s elite dictated from podiums and expected us to dance to their out-of-time choreography, the more insightful of the left-leaning writers and commentators had urged caution and looked with some disbelief at the opinion polls which to them were at odds with what they’d been hearing. Few wanted to hear that message, including me, we wanted to believe that we were going to get something better than we had experienced over the past five years. Blind optimism and the need to believe the opinion polls persuaded many of us who were, just a few weeks before, convinced that Labour were doing too little to convince the sceptical and the undecided that they just might be in with a chance of being the largest party and able to form a government. We were sorely disappointed, and the upset, anger and fear that was so apparent in the first few days after the election in the left-leaning media and expressed on social media is subsiding, but still there is little organisation on the left nor much idea of what form the wider opposition will take. A few commentators have put their heads above the parapets and taken a considered and constructive view – most notable amongst them Zoe Williams, Aditya Chakrabortty and John Harris – but the supposed leaders of the left such as trade unionists and activists have been strangely and disappointingly silent. The most high-profile and effective opposition voice to receive wide media coverage so far has been Charlotte Church, and bloody good she was too. A demonstration did take place on Saturday but received little coverage and support, and was marred by some violence and gifted the right-wing press and the tutting soft-left a reason to belittle and dismiss it.
Whilst the Labour party continues to be distracted by its leadership process and fails to at least sit down with the other left opposition to discuss areas of agreement the Tories will run rings around parliament and push through the queen’s speech and subsequent debate without very much to stop them. The mood of disquiet being expressed by the wider public needs to be harnessed and used to show the Tories that whilst they have a small majority in parliament they only have a 37% share of the total votes cast across the country. Before the election results were known the People’s Assembly had already organised anti-austerity rallies across the country on 20th June, and 38 Degrees continues to host campaigns and petitions posted by individuals. An overarching organisation made up of the many single-issue opposition groups of the left needs to get organised – the TUC and other left campaigning organisations who have the clout, capabilities and strength should work together and set aside individual squabbles and differences. There is too much at stake to waste any time. Too many disabled, sick and vulnerable people face swingeing cuts and uncertain futures, the NHS is at risk of being broken up and sold off, housing is in real crisis, education is being damaged irrevocably, human rights are going to be swept aside and for the bankers it’s business as usual. Action is needed, and people will swing behind a cohesive, strong and united force who they see as willing to take on the vested interests of the parliamentary classes and work with them. We need to agitate for that.
Before finishing: I believe the Liberal-Democrats got precisely what they deserved, and listening to them harp on about how they acted as a restraining force and crow about what they managed to achieve in the coalition then whinge about how they’ve been hard done by the electorate shows the contempt in which they hold the electorate and in turn proves they do not deserve even the eight MPs they have. Had they shown a real commitment to the vulnerable, the NHS, education and public services in 2010 we would be facing such a bleak outcome. Shame on them.