This by-election is an ominous warning.
For the new MP of a hard-Left party, Hannah Spencer used her speech at the Gorton and Denton by-election count to deliver an ostensibly surprising message. “Working hard used to get you something,” she said. “It got you a house. A nice life. Holidays. It got you somewhere. But now – working hard? What does that get you?” Not much, said the Green.
It is a sentiment that almost any working person in Britain would share, a lament to the broken connection between hard work and reward. But Ms Spencer’s solution gave the game away. She didn’t mention reducing the burden of regulation on business, or cutting the level of tax paid by workers, or loosening the constraints put on growth by government.
Her answer for how to give everyone a “nice life” perfectly encapsulated the risible economics of the populist Left: raid the pockets of the billionaires. But this appears to be the direction in which Left-wing politics is going in Britain: hard socialist economics and demands for the expropriation of wealth, combined with a dangerous exploitation of sectarian prejudices to win the votes of minority groups.
It was enough to deliver the worst possible result for Sir Keir Starmer in Gorton, with Labour pushed into third behind the Greens and Reform. Sir Keir’s already fragile control of his party is threatened again. A victory in Gorton would have vindicated his decision to block Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester, from standing. A narrow defeat to Reform could have given him an opportunity to rally his party against the Right.
Instead, Labour has been outflanked to its Left by an alliance of progressives and socially conservative Muslims, and many of Sir Keir’s MPs will feel that their biases have been confirmed.
Plenty were already saying that the answer to Labour’s woes was to abandon the centre-Left and adopt more red-blooded socialist policies. Now they will think they have a stunning electoral defeat to bolster their argument.
The Prime Minister has said he will keep on fighting after the by-election defeat. But such is the reduced state of his authority, he will have little control over which direction he takes that fight, assuming he is even allowed to remain in office much longer.
The consequences for the country look grim. Many have seen the Gorton and Denton by-election itself as a chilling sign of where Britain might be heading. Labour’s response to it could make the situation immeasurably worse. DT.
Labour has been outflanked by an alliance of progressives and socially conservative Muslims