Originally published @ 4:29 am, Mon 25th Oct 2010
Policy Network’s pamphlet “Southern Discomfort Again” was released on Monday the 11th of October. The project examines the failings of the Labour party to engage with voters in the Midlands and South of England.
Having submitted evidence to this pamphlet, I was a bit disappointed with the outcome. It continues a theme of why Labour has not done well enough in the south, thought to be most influential after Labour had lost again in 1992.
But defeat in 2010 was down to simpler analyses than the nature of class differing across England.
"Too much had gone wrong" in our watch, with new Tory MPs citing their call for change as the number 1 reason for them winning their seats.
The second reason they cited by new Tory MPs was Gordon Brown and I'm not sure how much more sophisticated the analysis has to be after that.
There a set of wide-ranging recommendations for the Labour Party at the end, but nothing that suggests that the Southern theme deserves another outing; especially since the swing in the Midlands was much more of an issue. (This swing was worse in part because Labour had done relatively well in 2005.)
Other local concerns such as agencies bringing in workers from eastern Europe at rates below the minimum wage, undermining local people and a key Labour policy doesn't get the attention it deserves.
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