There are many good reasons to continue opposing Brexit, I have written about some of them here. One that I, and many other Labour voters will feel particularly deeply, is the loss of our members of European parliament.
For the most part they are incredibly hard working and diligent people, who like so many in recent years will lose the jobs they love. Besides that though, our MEPs are also our representatives, and for those such as myself they play an important part in our democratic right to representation.
My own Labour MEP, Glenis Willmott, is the only Labour politician at any level who currently represents me. She is the only politician I ever vote for who has a chance of achieving office. This is not unusual for those of us away from Labour heartlands, where MEPs are routinely the only Labour elected representatives we ever have.
In my lifetime, my ward has never had a Labour councillor, either at district or county level. Nor has my constituency ever had a Labour MP. I live in an area which has always been considered ‘true blue,’ and I am not alone; there are plenty of Labour voters round here, just never quite enough of us. The same story is told right across rural, and suburban Britain.
Over recent months I have heard many in the Labour party argue that we should forget about Tory areas, because they are essentially beyond the pale. Recently we have seen Labour strategies that focus disproportionately on micro-campaigning in marginal seats, and now we have seen to our cost that it is not just safe Tory seats that get ignored, but safe Labour ones too.
And what of Labour supporters? Like so many others in every colour constituency, I wake up every morning wishing we had a Labour government. Committed members in every constituency Labour party across the country, and from every wing of our party, don our walking boots and waterproofs and walk the streets banging on doors and shoving leaflets through letterboxes. Some of us get the results we want, others, including myself, do not. This does not mean our contribution to the party is any less worthwhile, nor does it mean we are a reserve of manpower on call to travel to marginal seats, whenever there is an election.
We are people with communities of our own. We have green spaces that need maintenance, potholes that need filling, streetlights switched off in the small hours, fire stations and hospitals closed. We know there is an appetite for our policies too, though getting the wider electorate to make the change and trust us can be difficult. Nevertheless, even the most true-blue seat has its little nucleus of Labour streets. Often it is not enough, or too spread out to even elect a ward councillor, but they are there nonetheless and desperate for representation.
This sounds like an argument for proportional representation, and indeed it may be taken as one, though the system needs careful thought. The alternate vote system on offer a couple of years ago, simply looked like a means of replacing a perpetual Tory MP with an occasional Liberal Democrat one, with Labour voters continuing to be unrepresented.
What it really is though, is a call to the Labour party itself not to forget about the areas where we have little history of success, because right now, the political landscape is changing. The opportunity we have at present is rare and not to be missed. Many long term Tory voters have moved to Ukip in recent years. Some of these will never consider voting Labour, but others have changed because they want a fresh approach from a party that listens to their concerns. At the other end of the spectrum are the vast numbers of Tory Remainers, currently angry and disenchanted with their own party, whose votes are more fluid than ever before. I am optimistic that over time, some of these voters can be brought round to Labour with the right policies and outlook.
That is for the future, but right now we have got a small and fragile activist base that need something to hope for. While the party nationally seems only interested in metropolitan voters to the exclusion of all others, activists will increasingly find different things to do with their time. If we want to prevent that happening, it is time to better organise in non-core areas, and find new ways to enthuse an activist base with little immediate prospect of electoral success.
———————————
Christabel Edwards is a candidate in the general members’ section in the Progress strategy board elections. She tweets at @Christabel321
———————————
Photo
I also live in Lincolnshire, and also feel that the Labour Party has forgotten the County and abandoned it for the Tories.
I would like to see the Labour Party have a full time officer devoted to organising campaigns and promoting Labour values within the County. Someone who can support and help the activists on the ground.
It would be good to see senior Labour figures visiting the County to speak.
I used to be Treasurer at The Deepings Branch of the Labour Party until it folded. With CLP at the time I contacted the Regional Party for help, but received no help. The bank account had hundreds of pounds in it, but they didn’t want to know.
I am now Treasurer for South Holland & the Deepings Labour Party, and would welcome help and guidance from senior Labour officers.
For many Labour supporters in the Deep South or in the deep countryside, and for many Conservative supporters in very urban areas or in the old heartlands of heavy industry, a Member of the European Parliament is the only person whom their vote has ever elected. Some will say that the solution is Proportional Representation for the House of Commons. But the preposterously enormous constituency boundaries proposed for Scotland illustrate why many of us have never quite come round to that one. It could only be made to work in those very urban areas.
That, though, is an aside. The main point is that the matter is finally about to come to a head, after at least 40 years, that we can have our national sovereignty, or we can have the House of Lords, but we cannot have both. Tony Benn always said that the Lords would never permit withdrawal from what he always understood was really the European Union, and that was always his principal reason for wishing to abolish the Lords. He is about to be proved right. Indeed, he is already being proved right.
“Brexit means Brexit,” says the Prime Minister. The democratic will must be respected, says the Leader of the Opposition. They need to confront the mounting anger about the ballooning size of the unelected House of Parliament while the elected House is being cut, and that despite the growing population. The powers of the House of Lords could be transferred to a new Senate, the members of which would be remunerated in the same way as MPs were. Ministers would not be drawn from the Senate, but they would appear before it. Even the Prime Minister might. The Senate’s term of office would be six years.
Each of the nine English regions would elect 30 Senators, namely six Conservatives, six Labour, six Liberal Democrats (which party would in return be banned from contesting elections to the Commons), six from other registered political parties that did not contest Commons elections, and six Independents to sit as Crossbenchers.
In the first three cases, any member of the relevant party who was a parliamentary elector within the region would be eligible to stand. As electors, each of us would vote for one candidate, with the top six elected at the end. Casual vacancies would be filled by co-opting the next candidate down who was willing and able to serve. The fourth category would use party lists, again requiring candidates to be from within the region. The fifth would replicate the first three, but for Independents.
Scotland and Wales would each elect 30 Senators. Five each from the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP in Scotland or Plaid Cymru in Wales, other registered political parties that did not contest Commons elections, and Independents to sit as Crossbenchers. Like the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and Plaid Cymru would in return be banned from contesting Commons elections.
Northern Ireland would elect 30 Senators. Three each from the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Ulster Unionist Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party, other parties that did not contest Commons elections, and Independents to sit as Crossbenchers. The Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the UUP, the SDLP and the Alliance Party would be banned from contesting Commons elections. The SDLP has three seats in the Commons and no real chance of any more, while such a figure is beyond the wildest dreams of any of the others. Although of course, in Northern Ireland as anywhere else, parties that did not contest Senate elections would be free to stand for the Commons, as would Independents.
This would give 360 Senators, representing a very broad range of political opinion. UKIP, or whatever came after it, would happily exchange the off-chance of one Commons seat for the effective guarantee of 11 Senators and the serious possibility of 12. The same would be true of the three Green Parties in different parts of the United Kingdom. The Liberal Democrats would always have 79 Senators. And practically every elector would be able to point to at least one Senator for whom he or she had voted.