With elections to the Welsh Assembly due next year, the red lights should be flashing for Labour
With all eyes fixed firmly on Labour’s disastrous performance in Scotland and much of England, last night should set alarm bells ringing for the party in Wales.
In 2010, Welsh Labour suffered what was deemed to be a difficult evening. The results at the time said it all. The loss of four seats saw the party take 26 in Wales whilst the Conservatives picked up an additional five to secure eight Welsh seats in the House of Commons.
Labour’s proportion of the vote fell by 6.5 per cent whilst the swing from Labour to Conservatives was 5.6 per cent.
Going into this year’s election, all the talk had been of Labour making albeit modest gains in Wales. As the final Welsh Political Barometer prior to the polls opening indicated, Labour were supposed to be on course to bag an additional two seats in Cardiff Central and Cardiff North.
With all 40 seats declared in Wales however, the results make for sobering reading. In the only bit of the UK that has a Labour Government, led by Carwyn Jones, the party saw itself make a net loss of one seat in Wales, whilst the Conservatives picked up an additional three to return 11 Welsh MPs.
This all comes on the back of results in last May’s European Elections which put UKIP in second place in Wales, less than 1 per cent behind Labour in the popular vote.
With elections to the Welsh Assembly due next year, the red lights should be flashing for Labour in Wales with election results going in the wrong direction.
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter
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83 Responses to “The alarm bells should be ringing for Welsh Labour”
Leon Wolfeson
I’d suggest that the Orange Book voters went over to the Tories anyway, and that they’ve rather removed themselves. I agree Fallon – who I understand is pretty much an old school liberal – is the LibDem best bet, but…I’m not sure if the party can survive even so.
(The local base, councillors, is down to under 2000 – down from 2007’s ~4735)
And…what? Labour didn’t promise anything in terms of ending austerity! They in fact committed and hard to it. They endorsed the welfare caps, the spending cuts, the service slashes
Leon Wolfeson
Sorry, but I agree with Mhari Black on the reasoning.
It’s entirely down to Labour moving right – and the LibDems spectacular self-inflicted implosion.
robertcp
My comments on the above.
Second paragraph – you are not a fan of Ed Miliband but he is no longer the leader of the Labour Party.
Third paragraph – I agree that we should not blame voters for voting for other parties. Miliband was, however, right to move Labour away from New Labour and Labour’s manifesto was not particularly left-wing.
Fourth paragraph – you want to offer the voters something worthwhile, stop a puerile fantasy and appeal across the spectrum. It is difficult to know what this means, which is why I asked about what policies you had in mind.
Ben Skipp
I’ve been pondering whether the genuine lib dems still voted lib dem, but the tactical lib dems left and that maybe their core support is 8 – 12 MPs.
Leon Wolfeson
Yes – although I’d call their “genuine” support “tribal”. Also, well, it’s 8-12 MP’s under FPTP ><