When I was asked to contribute a chapter to Tristram Hunt’s book on Labour’s identity crisis, I was only too willing. Reliving the traumatic events of May 2015 may not appear to be the best form of catharsis, but in the context of the party’s subsequent flight from the centre of British politics it seemed apposite to focus on why we lost so badly at the general election.
In my contribution to the book Labour’s Identity Crisis I assert that Portsmouth North, the seat where I stood last year, is the bellwether seat in England. Indeed, this seat had a Labour member of parliament from 1966-1979 and 1997-2010. In between it elected a Conservative, Peter Griffiths the infamous former MP for Smethwick, by huge majorities. Post-2010 the pendulum has firmly swung in the Tories favour again with Penny Mordaunt winning almost 50 per cent of the vote and increasing her majority to over 10,000. On the face of it this result appears astonishing, given the sustained programme of austerity and deep cuts to public services in Portsmouth. However, when taken alongside the coalition government’s decision to close down the city’s naval shipbuilding facility in 2014, with the loss of 1,500 direct jobs and many more indirect roles, the outcome looks completely inexplicable.
What I have sought to do in my essay is both explain why Labour lost so badly in places like Portsmouth North and what it needs to do to win the seat in the foreseeable future. In terms of the key reasons for the party’s defeat, these were no different in Portsmouth to those in many other former Labour seats. Time and again voters told us they did not see Ed Miliband as a future prime minister. Moreover, the lack of a credible leader contributed to a view that Labour could not be trusted with the economy. Then in the final few weeks the widespread perception that Labour would enter a coalition with the Scottish National party meant that English voters’ innate conservatism would not allow them to take the risk of electing a party led by Miliband.
Paradoxically, the decision by the coalition government to close Portsmouth shipbuilding facility, in favour of the yards on the Clyde, provided a boost to both the Conservative and Ukip vote. For the latter, any pretence to be a party for the United Kingdom was dropped by arguing that the Scots had now joined eastern European migrants in ‘stealing our jobs’. Meanwhile, the Tories were able to utilise the threat of Alex Salmond calling the shots in order to prevent voters from deserting them. This was some achievement from a governing party that had made the decision to close a shipyard in their southern heartland and transfer the work to the west of Scotland.
Unfortunately, the Labour frontbench did little to support the collective campaign to save the shipyard. Instead, it agreed with the closure on the day that the announcement was made and fatally undermined the fight to save shipbuilding jobs in the city. This decision appeared to be calculated on the electoral maths of defending a number of seats in the west of Scotland – remind me how that worked out? This created a sense of fait accompli amongst the workforce despite the heroic attempts of some workers and their representatives to keep the shipyard open. When the final sections of the new super-carriers left the yard in the autumn of 2014 it closed without ceremony or protest.
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John Ferrett is the leader of the Labour group for Portsmouth city council. He tweets @John_Ferrett
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There is a fundamental flaw in Labour since I’m sorry to say Gordon Brown, I liked Gordon, an honest man with true Labour principles, but, not a good communicator to the masses,people thought he was too far left, not so in my book however the real rift with the electorate came with the election of Ed milliband, wrong choice, wrong brother, the public perceived that Labour had moved even further to the left, which I believe is true, and to compound this, Ed then facilitated the rules on membership, enter Corbyn, now the downward trajectory continues, no matter how many members Labour now have, it does not and will not translate into votes from the electorate, the people Labour should be concentrating on is, working people and their concerns, not benefits, they can be addressed after a labour victory, and of course the Mr’s Duffy aspect on immigrants that Gordon so badly fell foul of. An example of Corbyns ineptitude is, when the Tories said the living wage will be £10 in 2020, he should have asked for £10 now and £12 in 2020, instead the Tories waltzed through unchallenged, I could go on,so lets challenge Ukip who purport to represent working values, they talk a good message but it is untrue and needs to be exposed, the Tories are doing a good job on themselves, so I would say that without a doubt, Corbyn must go, and Labour must find a leader who is Charismatic and believable, has Tony Blair got a twin, or has Ed queered the pitch for David to come back ?