Labour must reclaim the white working class
Last month, Nigel Farage launched United Kingdom Independence party’s election campaign in my home town of Sheffield. Why did this right-wing, privately educated, south-east MEP choose South Yorkshire to launch his campaign?
Since 2009, both Ukip and the BNP have represented Yorkshire in the European parliament. In the same year, the English Democrats’ Peter Davies was elected as the mayor of Doncaster, right in Ed Miliband’s backyard. How on earth did these people manage to get elected?
Look back at 2009 and none of the mainstream parties, for many reasons, particularly appealed to South Yorkshire’s white working class, many of whom have felt abandoned since the late 1980s. A vote for the populist right offered the white working class a voice in which to vent their anger and frustration with modern Britain.
Soon after those 2009 elections, Labour support began bouncing back in traditional heartlands like South Yorkshire. This is mainly due to a mix of former Lib Dems, put off by the coalition, and dormant Labour supporters who were previously anti-war.
If we are to establish a Labour majority government in 2015, then we must reach out to another set of former Labour voters: those currently being wooed by Ukip. Polls show an increasing number of former Labour voters are now turning to Farage and this is covered in excellent detail by the academic Matthew Goodwin, in his recent article for Progress.
Ed Miliband would be wise to send new campaign guru David Axelrod on a fact-finding trip to his constituency in Doncaster North. Labour must reconnect with the white working class in places like South Yorkshire; like many, they feel disenfranchised and have become disillusioned and frustrated with modern Britain.
Farage is cynically exploiting this demographic with success. Learning lessons from 2009, he knows that places like South Yorkshire are fertile ground for his views. To many, Ukip offer an appealing and romantic vision of the past. Voters nostalgically remember a strong Britain and adopt a positive view of the old empire. Ukip promote the prospect of pride in work, a job for life, close-knit communities and the liberty to smoke your cigarette inside the pub.
Farage has passion and comes across as genuine. Voters are increasingly projecting their aspirations onto Ukip without even understanding their policies. Blaming immigration and mainstream political parties for their woes, the white working class has felt neglected for too long. They worry about job security, the future for their family and battle against an ever-growing cost of living.
These people once voted Labour. They were trade union members with jobs for life, who worked and socialised locally. Local pride and identity are important to this forgotten and often misunderstood demographic. South Yorkshire especially, was left high and dry by Thatcher and deindustrialisation, which scarred communities for generations. Proud family jobs in steel and coal were replaced with call centres and retail parks. Towns and villages lost their purpose. People became insecure and gave up hope on Labour – feeling the party were no longer on their side.
It is unfair to say that Labour is completely disengaged. We do, in fact, have some of the policies to respond to these concerns, from enforcing rules to protect agency workers and making hard work pay by restoring the contributory element in social security. Further local devolution will also help, especially in repairing the perceived loss of local identity.
However, we are just not communicating these effectively enough to reach those people who do not already vote Labour. People are not attracted to Ukip by their facts and figures; it is an emotional pull. Farage knows how to tug the right heartstrings. Miliband therefore needs to communicate with passion, looking right into the eyes of his own constituents in Doncaster North. Miliband needs to work harder to translate and articulate these populist policies to this electorate.
Reconnecting with the white working class is a major piece of the electoral jigsaw to establish a Labour majority in 2015.
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Photo: European Parliament