OK, so it’s not exactly breaking news but I felt the need to comment on the the European election results, and didn’t have time yesterday because of a pesky thing called work.
As far as I can work out the two main upshots of the elections were a complete kicking for Labour, and a sad, sad first for British politics, the election of a pair of unashamed racists to represent this country in the European Parliament.
According to the pundits and pollsters the two events aren’t entirely unrelated; The BNP’s increased share of the vote was a product of lower overall turn out, they actually got about the same number of votes as they did last time round. While it’s some comfort to hear that the country isn’t rampaging towards the extreme right, yet, any increase in power, or prominence, for this dangerous group of thugs in suits is cause for concern!
I heard it said, on the news last night, that many traditional Labour supporters feel betrayed by New Labour & are turning to the BNP because they are (in their own fascist way) addressing the concerns of the Working Classes, a segment of society which the main parties seem to have forgotten in their desperate rush to secure the votes of Middle England; for such appears to be the perceived “wisdom” of electoral success in this age of high spin, low substance, government that has blighted British politics since 1997.
I have to say, although I would never vote for a bunch of facists like the BNP, the arguement that they stand to gain from widespread dissatisfaction with main stream politics rings extremely true to me. As a disillusioned Labour supporter myself it seems all too clear! Where are people with a genuine socialist leaning meant to cast their votes these days?
Labour have just lost the plot, and in no way resemble socialists anymore, although they are still happy to try and wear this guise when it suites their purposes; it’s allowed them to pass some measures, over the past decade, which would have had the press, and public, howling with rage if a Tory administration tried the same, but somehow, because they’ve had this enduring facade of being a party for the ordinary people, they’ve managed to get away with it; All too often by ignoring what the grass roots are saying they really want!
OK, so I could vote for Scargill’s lot, but frankly they come across as a bit too looney old Labour, I mean I like the idea of socialism overall, but it has to be tempered by the realities of the (largely capitalist) world which we live in, & that’s something that old Labour always seemed to have problems with, no-one wants a return to the 1970s!
As for the the Tories, they’ve always been a party of the rich, for the rich, although somehow they do seem to get a good show of support from less affluent sectors of society. Largely by playing on these people’s aspirations, to become something more than “Working class”, I suspect.
Then there’s the Lib Dems, on many issues they “talk the talk” but it’s always easier to make promises from the safety of the opposition benches, even so I’d seriously like for them to have a chance to show us what they can do, even if I wouldn’t be holding my breath waiting for great results. Sadly though, they still suffer a great deal from the self fulfilling perception that they’re an unelectable third party, a “wasted” vote.
This only really leaves the minority parties, the ones with even less support than the Lib Dems, and I suppose out of those the BNP may, sadly, appeal to a populace who are feeling unrepresented, living through a recession, and are being told by the tabloids that their jobs are under threat from foreign workers. In these circumstances it’s easy to see how people will buy into a message which appears to have an easy answer for all their problems; Afterall, it worked in Germany in the 1930s, a worrying comparison which I don’t make lightly, but which to an extent does seem justified here. Not that I’m suggesting that we’re goose-stepping towards a Third Reich of our own, just yet. Afterall we’re only talking a 1.3% increase in the overall number of BNP votes, but there has to be a concern that if the BNP start to look like a viable party, they may start to attract more votes from sections of society who feel let down and unrepresented by the major parties.
How to solve the problem, and restore some of the populace, as a wholes, faith in this country’s political system, and political classes, is the big question. I’m not sure there are any easy answers, but a good start would be a non-extremist party which listens to ordinary people, and attempts to address their concerns; The emphasis, from both Labour and Tories, on winning the votes of “Middle England” has to stop! If other sections of society are feeling completely unpresented by the main stream parties they’ll naturally turn to someone who does appear to listen (even if it is a bunch of fascist thugs with a thin veneer of respectability); It’s hardly rocket science!
Tags: News