Labour needs to wake up to the Ukip threat
‘Ukip are more a problem for the Tories than Labour’ – a line I have heard far too often in Labour circles; a complacency that should increasingly worry us.
The by-election in Clacton triggered by the resignation of Douglas Carswell is as much a test for Labour as for the Tories. As the Labour candidate in the Newark by-election, I know just how much.
The press has framed the Essex contest as a showdown between David Cameron and Nigel Farage but this may be Labour’s last opportunity to test its strategy for fighting the United Kingdom Independence party before the general election.
Ukip may currently take significantly more votes from the Tories than anyone else, and it is true that a split on the right could benefit Labour in much the same way as the left’s split benefitted the Conservatives in the 1980s. But wishing for a split in your opposition does not amount to a credible strategy for winning. Moreover, Ukip’s entry into the fray can have unexpected consequences.
On the doorsteps in the final few days of the Newark campaign I witnessed the worrying phenomenon of Labour voters arguing themselves into voting Tory to stop Ukip. In Clacton and elsewhere Labour could face a similar split in its own support.
The only credible strategy is to take Ukip and the Tories head-on and to make every Labour vote count. There are opportunities for Labour to benefit from a strong Liberal Democrat squeeze too, but only if we campaign hard; out of the 12 Ukip targets Liberal Democrats hold Portsmouth South and Eastleigh and have a vote share of around 15 per cent or above in nine of the other 10. Seeing Ukip take chunks out of the Tories in these southern seats might be gratifying for us in the short term but being a spectator in a fight that will help determine the country’s future is putting pleasure before business. Nor can we afford for Ukip to become the Tories’ main opposition in the south-east or ours in the north.
We need to relentlessly remind voters of Ukip’s support for a flat tax, its plans to put the NHS out to private tender and to undermine statutory holiday pay. And we must hold its members of the European parliament to account when they do not bother turning up to vote on important matters for the UK.
I want to see Ed Miliband entering Downing Street as prime minister of a majority Labour government in eight months’ time. Labour must campaign hard in Clacton; ‘one nation’ must be just as much about the way we do politics as it is about our policy offer to the British people. We now know Ukip’s target seats for the general election – we must commit to fighting them with the vigour and tenacity that we are showing in marginal seats.
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Michael Payne is parliamentary candidate for Newark
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its worse than you know.For the record I would never vote UKIP, but I think on the current trajectory in the next 20 years they’ll probably end up as a third force in British politics stronger than the Lib Dems ever were and could within 30 years be election winners. UKIP support is rising all the time, some of those labour families you spoke to in Newark will probably be flirting with kipperism even now.
There is an increasingly a belief that the mainstream parties have abandoned the majority of the population (what was it Peter Mandelson said, that the working class “had nowhere else to go), that you don’t listen to us nor care what we have to say or what happens in our lives.
Yes, the tories are seen as elitist slobs but labour are seen as clannish hypocrites and Rotherham is on the tongue of everyone down here. People may hate toffs but they hate faux-proles more. The toffs at leastare honest about their allegiances. The tories may lose swathes of the east and south coast but you are also just at threat in your urban periphery (the
Rotherhams, Rochdales, Darlingtons, Dudleys etc).
If you want to secure our votes you’ll have to put forward a positive and attractive vision for the future. So far all we have is lying about UKIPs positions on the NHS (I hate the kippers, but all Farage has to say is “we don’t believe that” and you’ll look stupid) and Ed Milibands wishy-washy vision of a new UK which dosen’t gel with ordinary people. You should get someone like Burnham, Reeves, Danczuk, Cruddas, Mann, Murphy, Johnson etc to be your leader. Someone who has authenticity and can deliver something progressive, moderate and fair.
UKIP won an election in my low paid ward ,with a weak 82 year old candidate ,against Labours and hardworking and very able 35 year old candidate .The ward has high recent immigration and low pay ,if you can get a job .The writer of this article talks of telling voters Labours opinions . Labour and its activists ,and of course its Leaders have one Gigantic weakness . They do not listen to Labours usual core voters ,unless its something they want to hear . How up your own orifice can one get ?