Voters suffering most severely from forms of economic oppression, and who share fundamental left-wing values, are not voting for Labour and are definitely not voting for one of the parties to the left of Labour.
Voters suffering most severely from forms of economic oppression, and who share fundamental left-wing values, are not voting for Labour and are definitely not voting for one of the parties to the left of Labour
I am going to indulge in a little navel-gazing to argue that we – if anyone even wants to be part of the ‘we’ of the left anymore – need to take a break from blabbering at each other, and ask why our attempts to communicate are such a dismal failure.
The bedroom tax is bad. Raar! Angry! Me! Furious! Today’s left produces an endless stream of tweets, updates, comments and blogposts opining perspectives that, give or take the odd sub-clause, most of its audience already agrees with. Pat on the back! Yeah! It’s outrageous! Morons!
Meanwhile, many of the voters bearing the full weight of economic inequality blame Romanian immigrants and amble off to vote UKIP.
That this marks a catastrophic failure on the part of the left was demonstrated by research quoted in the Guardian a few months ago. It found that 71 per cent of UKIP voters agree with left-wing statements such as ‘the government should redistribute income’ and ‘ordinary people do not get their fair share of the national wealth’.
This was a significantly higher proportion than Conservative (43 per cent) or Lib Dem (65 per cent) voters, and not far behind Labour (81 per cent). Further research found that of the 10 most UKIP-friendly seats in the country, eight are Labour.
So what’s happened? Why are we finding it so hard to reach an audience beyond our own social and digital circles?
Could it be a consequence of what the film-maker Adam Curtis and novelist Michel Houllebecq identified about the movements of the sixties: that they were never really about social justice, they were about individual self-expression, and so not only did they feed quite naturally into the rise of marketing and Thatcherism, but they also created a culture whereby one’s politics are primarily an aspect of the identity you don each day and swish around on the stage of the world?
In a cultural context such as this, it is entirely logical that collective engagement should be relegated to second-place behind simply airing one’s views and splashing around in the warm pool of your own impassioned outrage.
Or, linked but a little different, is it that the left’s struggles have shifted from the grounds of class to focus on sexuality and gender – understandably tempting territory for the middle-class radical, allowing them to feel personally involved and oppressed and so to indulge their own narcissism?
These are of course vital struggles for many. But their inherent appeal has an unfortunate consequence. Those experiencing greater economic than gender-based oppression end up being left behind, forgotten about, and most of all alienated from a left of bloggers, artists, cartoonists and tattooists who spend half the time banging on about their own sex lives, shaving habits, and taste in arthouse cinema.
Or is the old left right after all, and it’s all the fault of New Labour?
To a large extent we’re still reliant on Labour to, bee-like, convey our arguments across the whole of the country. But Miliband’s party of career politicians has no convincing narrative to explain why people find themselves in dead-ends of economic deprivation, let alone any substantive policies that might get them moving again.
Whatever balance of these and other factors is the cause, it has happened, and we should acknowledge it. The left is losing the argument. Voters suffering most severely from forms of economic oppression, and who share fundamental left-wing values, are not voting for Labour and are definitely not voting for one of the parties to the left of Labour.
Most are not blaming flows of international capital for the housing crisis. They’re not blaming inadequate worker compensation for their long hours, poor quality of life and reliance on in-work benefits. They’re not blaming the slashing of subsidised legal aid for their precarious employment situation.
No, as UKIP’s continuing journey up the polls demonstrates, they’re blaming Romanian immigrants and benefit cheats. And the left is failing to counter these arguments.
Perhaps instead of churning out more contempt-laden copy on the latest UKIP blunder or eccentric policy proposal, we should turn our touchscreens to discussing how we can communicate more effectively with those suffering most acutely from the inequities of our economic system.
Toby Hill is a London-based journalist and writer
176 Responses to “The rise of UKIP marks a failure of the left”
Guest
But… they’re not. The polling tabs show there simply isn’t significant crossover even from those who stuck with New Labour last election (let alone those Labour left behind to the left!).
You are giving UKIP amo. Plain and simple.
AlanGiles
There are so many problems with Labour, and last weeks conference highlighted them. Whether you like it or not, immigration is a major concern of many on the left, right and in between. Miliband chose to either ignore it or “forgot” it. He looks either cowardly or foolish. Or both.
Several shadow ministers gave speeches that were bloodless and passionless. The only exception was Andy Burnham, who at least sounds as if he believes what he is saying. Lacklustre shadow ministers reciting their party pieces, even if they are trying to play to the gallery does not inspire.
Away from the lights and make-up in the conference hall, we look at Labour going out of their way to prove there is little difference between themselves and the coalition. Two weeks running we saw Miliband running to support Cameron, first in Scotland, then last week back at Westminster, to support military action in Iraq – and imposing a three line whip on what should be a matter of personal belief.
We are faced with an opposition, which, if we are to believe Balls (and his jerky method of speaking last week added to the air of amateurism) would persue the same failed fiscal policies as the coalition. In short you will get the same or similar policies delivered by the men and women in red rosettes instead of the blue.
For too long Labour has been the “us, too” party desperate to be seen as following the status quo.
A weak pathetic leader, a weak pathetic shadow cabinet (if only everybody loved Hunt and Ummuna as much as they love themselves), and there snapping like a Chihuahua is Micheal Dugher, always ready with a quick soundbite or Twitter, which is usually completely otiose.
British politics become more of a joke with lookalike policies, lookalike politicians with little or no real life experience. He is such a boring little man, he could be Rachel Reeves twin
None of the three main parties are the solution, they are part of the problem: all deluded into thinking Britain is still a major world power, kowtowing to Washington.
Do we really HAVE an official opposition any longer?
As for Farage, he is just another windbag, pretending to loathe the EU and all it stands for, yet happy to play along in the game, and taking the money for doing so. Politics has become less about conviction and more about play-acting and games. Do any of the 4 main party leaders honestly believe in anything, except personal power?
AlanGiles
We don’t have an official opposition any longer, as Miliband has proved, he rushed off to Scotland to back Cameron, then the following week, imposed a three line whip to make sure Labour supported Cameron over yet another Iraq war. Voting for war should be a matter of conscience. Miliband is too stupid to see that. He seems to think that any problem can be solved by yet another vacuous Tweet or soundbite from Michael Dugher. Poor Miliband is just going through the motions: “forgetting” two important parts of your conference speech MIGHT be accidental. More likely it was a cowardly act of omission. Either way it looks amateurish, as did the whole of last weeks conference, with the notable exception of Andy Burnham, who spoke as if he believed what he was saying: the likes of Reeves, Umunna, Hunt and Balls would do well to follow his example.
Farage is just another windbag, happy to play along – pretending to loathe the EU , yet more than happy to take the money.
You start to wonder if any of the 4 main party leaders have true conviction about anything, apart from their own pathetic desperate need for power and position.
Cole
Really? Noticed that Labour is ahead in the polls and Ukip is on about 15%?
Cole
Quite a laugh that Ukip – who really are more Tory than the Tories – pretend to be standing up for the working class.