Questioning the Future of Left-Wing Parties in the UK: Could the Election of George Galloway be a Turning Point?
Introduction
In February 2024, George Galloway won a seat in a by-election in Rochdale in Greater Manchester, getting 40% of the vote which overturned a Labour majority. Galloway focused his campaign on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict by calling for a ceasefire and voicing support for Palestine, unlike the Labour party and its leader Keir Starmer who has been hesitant to support a ceasefire. Galloway holds left wing ideals and has described himself as a socialist (Rees, 2024) where Starmer holds a more centrist view of politics (Chaplain, 2023).
A Comparison Between the WPB and Modern Labour
One must question whether the Workers Party of Britain (WPB) could potentially overtake the Labour Party as the party for more left-leaning voters. Obviously, it must be considered that the Workers Party of Britain is substantially smaller than the Labour Party, but an optimist could hope that the election of Galloway could act as a gateway for the WPB to expand their voter base. As of 2024, Labour has listed five objectives in their manifesto, these are to ‘Get Britain building again’, ‘Switch on Great British Energy’, ‘Get the NHS back on its feet’, ‘Take back our streets’ and ‘Break down barriers to opportunity’ (Labour,2024). Arguably young voters are a group which is essential to appeal to therefore it is necessary to place a focus on the interests of this group, according to ITVX (2023) the four biggest issues that young people focus on are the economy, mental health services, education and housing, 29% of young people approve of the Labour Party and 4% of young people approve of Keir Starmer (ITV Youth Tracker, 2023). The WPB has listed their main aims as ‘redistributive economics’, ‘national investment in infrastructure’, ‘commitment to trade unionism’, ‘workers control’, ‘the green new deal’ and new plans for ‘housing and healthcare’ to name a few of their aims (Workers Party of Britain, 2024), the WPB is much more left wing in its policies than Labour, which could see left-leaning voters shift to the WPB as Labour have been criticised under Keir Starmer for shifting more to the right (Greenaway, 2023).
Issues with Left-Leaning UK Parties at Present
There are a plethora of left-wing parties in the United Kingdom however, very few very ever gain electoral success due to a multitude of factors from internal disagreements, ideological splits or simply just not appealing to the electorate. Many of the left-wing parties have radical views without policy plans which could be used to support them in a legislative environment, similarly, many have almost identical aims and ideologies which begs the question of is it necessary to have such a high volume of parties spread extremely thin? One could wonder would it be more effective if the smaller left-wing parties found ideological agreement and formed one larger party with a common aim but unfortunately due to the ideological spread of ideas on the left-wing spectrum this seems nearly impossible. There are parties which focus on all issues from the environment and climate change to a workers’ revolution (Mamchii, 20223), due to the grassroots nature of these parties, they struggle to organise and fund candidates which automatically disadvantages them during election time, adding to the difficulty in having left wing candidates appear on ballot sheets.
The Future of Left-Wing Parties in the UK
In recent years there has been a Europe-wide decline in votes for left wing parties, with devasting blows being taken by left wing parties in election after election, with the right wing seemly becoming more popular or at least more vocal about their concerns surrounding immigration and the economy, Werlemann (2019) highlights that left-wing parties struggle to provide alternatives to the right-wing without actually feeding into right wing propaganda. Manwaring and Kennedy (2017) discuss that the left and right divide is currently too wide due to radical ideas on both sides and that more of a centre approach could create more cooperation and votes at the ballot box. However, left-wing ideology is still widespread and there is still momentum behind left wing thought, in the current political environment it is difficult to secure votes due to a wide variety of issues from voter numbers declining to people struggling to vote outside of means which solely can secure their survival. The left-wing has struggled to appeal to the electorate in recent years, however, the election of George Galloway can be seen as a small piece of hope for the future of the left in the UK’s political landscape.
Reference list
Chaplain, C. (2023). Purging the left and ditching socialism could see Labour lose voters, Keir Starmer warned. [online] inews.co.uk. Available at: https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-warned-alienating-labour-voters-socialism-2355733 (Accessed 6 Mar 2024)
Greenaway, J. (2023). What the hell is going on with the UK Labour Party? [online] The Real News Network. Available at: https://therealnews.com/what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-the-uk-labour-party (Accessed 6 Mar 2024)
ITVX (2023). Most young voters unlikely to ever back Tories, according to major ITV poll. [online] ITV News. Available at: https://www.itv.com/news/2023-05-05/most-young-voters-unlikely-to-ever-back-tories-according-to-major-itv-poll
London School of Economics and Political Science (2017). Why the left loses: Explaining the decline of centre-left parties. [online] EUROPP. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2017/11/08/why-the-left-loses-explaining-the-decline-of-centre-left-parties/ (Accessed 6 Mar 2024)
Mamchii, O. (2023). Political Parties in the UK, Conservatives to Regional Parties. [online] bestdiplomats.org. Available at: https://bestdiplomats.org/political-parties-in-the-uk/
Scarff, O. (2024). George Galloway Showing Support for Palestine . AFP via Getty Images
The Labour Party (2023). 5 Missions for a Better Britain. [online] The Labour Party. Available at: https://labour.org.uk/missions/
Werleman, C.J. (2019). Why are Left-Wing Parties of the West Failing to Win Power? [online] Byline Times. Available at: https://bylinetimes.com/2019/12/17/why-are-left-wing-parties-of-the-west-failing-to-win-power/ (Accessed 6 Mar 2024)
Left wing parties dying out is an interesting topic to look into and not one I had thought about a lot. The writer has chosen a relevant example of George Galloway being chosen as MP recently as he represents the Worker’s Party of Britain. This was very interesting to me as I had not heard of the party before reading this article and the thought of the Labour Party not being the main left wing party is intriguing, especially as people view the Labour Party as less left wing since Kier Starmer became leader. The next general election will be interesting to look at to see if labour can gain any seats and if smaller left wing parties, like George Galloway, could gain any seats. Further to this blog post the idea of how different factors about a person like age and class affect whether they vote for left wing or not is something important to look into. Events such as Brexit could suggest a population in the UK leaning more right-wing but with the Covid-19 pandemic and the handling of the economy could a change be seen at the next general election?
This is an intriguing blog post which offers a unique perspective on left-wing politics in the UK. As easy as it might be to dismiss George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain as no great threat to Labour, the recent local election results demonstrate that opposition to Labour’s position on the Israel-Gaza war is driving some voters elsewhere. This is especially true of Muslim voters, many of whom would typically have voted for Labour in the past. As such, the author is right to highlight the connection between George Galloway’s election and the Israel-Gaza war.
However, beyond picking up some votes as a reaction to Labour’s pro-Israeli stance, it is difficult to imagine the Workers Party of Britain providing a serious alternative to the Labour Party. After 14 years of Conservative government, voters recognise that the Labour Party is the most credible alternative.
This blog post has a very clear structure and leads the reader through an interesting take on the current state of left-wing parties within the UK. The author uses George Galloway and his recent election as MP in relation to his views on the Palestinian war, a major contentious issue within British politics, and his self-claimed socialist status. This article compares and contrasts the Workers Party Britain and the current Labour Party arguing that the Workers party more left wing that the Labour Party and could absorb more left-wing voters from the Labour party. Moreover, the author also focuses on present issues with Leftist parties in the UK and their future, arguing that small left-wing parties are unsuccessful because of the might of labour and the similarity between their policies. The author finished arguing that the rise of the right and a large ideological split had diminished left wing parties believing that a more centre approach could solve these issues. To add to this argument, the author could compare labour under past leadership like Tony Blair and Jeremy Corbin, with Jeremy Corbin being more left wing than current labour creating an interesting argument around the changes within labour themselves.
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