It is clear that the centre of western politics generally and those in the UK in particular has shifted left after thirty years on the right. There is a lot of angst about big business, bankers, globalisation, poverty,vulgar riches, wars, social inequality et al. In Greece and Spain new left wing movements have been the response to the euro crisis and in France the response to the ineffectual socialist regime of Hollande has been Marine La Pen, technically far to the right but actually appealing to the left. In this context the rise and rise of Jeremy Corbyn is easily understood. So is the rise of the SNP which in the view of this blog has surged not because of its nationalism but because of its left wing agenda.
There are dangers here and two warnings are timely. The first is that this is not a signal that the mass of voters would support a return to looney left policies and pointless gesture politics. The left agenda has to be financially viable, delivering efficiency, value and fairness in equal measure. Public ownership of railways and utilities would be popular if they deliver greater efficiency for less cost, but a return to loss making monoliths and loss making corporations making obsolete products propped up with public money are an absolute no no.
Equally all of Labour needs to understand that New Labour is a busted flush and the circumstances which gave it three victories is a row are gone. They were challenged by a right wing Tory party which had lost its way post Thatcher, which moderate voters turned their backs on. This gave success to both the Liberals and the Blair regime. The Tories are now back in the centre and on the left of it. Yes there were cuts in the budget, but there were some harsh tax increases on the better off as well. Labour’s response has been to argue for a little less of this and a little more of that. But most voters can see barely a cigarette paper between the old guards of New Labour and the new Tories.
It was indeed the case post Thatcher that Labour could only win on the centre ground. That no longer applies. Wilson won four elections and Attlee won two. They both won from the left. The SNP was left of Labour in Scotland and won almost every seat. Labour can win only from the left in future, but it must be a savvy financially creative left which unifies, not one of endless strikes and nuclear free zones, which fosters both division and derision. The public will never vote for that.