Has Labour Truly being the Political Party of the Working Man?
What was Labour’s Relationship to the Working Class and how has it evolved?
The Labour party was a party founded in 1900 as a socialist worker’s party, therefore it’s policies and politics were centred on trade unionism, democratic socialism, and Marxist socialism, however the Labour party shifted towards more centre-left, neo-liberal ‘Third Way’ under Tony Blair’s leadership as Party Leader and Prime Minister, since then, at present, the Labour party’s members largely consists of various factions across leftists politics (Worley, 2016), however the conflict between old and new Labour persists to this day, these cleavages particularly visible under Keir Starmer’s leadership where there was been significant pushes to lessen Old Labour’s influence, that was predominant under Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party, in favour of Third Way, centre left policy.
Third Way policy was and is successful for Labour’s policy as it attracted a new type of voter base- the suburban middle class as opposed to the party’s traditional voter base of the working class in industrial or post-industrial areas, resulting in policy that favoured the new ‘cosmopolitan elite’ and neglected the traditional voting base (Hayhurst, 2019). However, Labour’s relationship with the working-class electorate is not necessarily linked to intraparty conflicts but rather can be linked to other factors such as the decline in class based political parties or a wider focus on identity and so called ‘culture wars’ that have dominated Western societies with the rise of the internet and globalisation.
The decline of Class-Based politics…
Over the duration of the 2010s politics and political identity have shifted dramatically, this can be attributed to a rise in right wing populism and social ideals. Some demographics, particularly those who are white, working class men often feel alienated from mainstream politics and a loss in their value due to the decline in industry and a shift from a secondary economy, a manufacturing based economy, to a tertiary economy, one that’s based in services, as a consequence working class, white men are more likely to adopt right wing populist viewpoints, such as anti-immigration, anti-progressive and anti-‘woke’ ideas (Gidron and Hall, 2017), for example lower income voters are more likely to view immigration as a major concern as opposed to middle class voters. Right wing political parties, such as the Conservative Party, UKIP and Reform UK appealing to these concerns, this effect made evident of the loss of the Red Wall in the 2019 general election, an election cycle that was dominated by Brexit, this highlights the shift away from class-based politics and more so onto personal identity and beliefs.
However, these points do not negate the fact that under New Labour policy manifestos, working class people are less likely to vote for Labour in comparison to when Labour has proposed policy that largely benefits working class people that is commonplace under traditional labour policy, in effect, the working class vote is largely dependent on if the Labour party wants to appeal to the working class electorate and how due to the lack of emphasis on class with in party manifestos the class is subsequently no longer the leading force on how people vote (Heath, 2013). Therefore, there is an argument to be made about Labour drifting away from its working class. Leftist, trade unionist roots in favour of a more centrist, moderate Third Way political party.
In Conclusion…
In conclusion, the Labour Party’s traditional working-class ties has altered considerably, moving away from traditional socialist beliefs and towards a more moderate Third Way approach. The transition, which began under Tony Blair and continues to grow under the leadership of Keir Starmer, has caused Labour’s ties with its traditional working-class base to diminish. Working-class voters’ concerns have been somewhat marginalised by the adoption of Third Way policies designed to appeal to a wider suburban middle-class audience, especially in industrial and post-industrial areas. However, it is essential to recognise that internal party conflict between Old and New Labour is not the sole explanation for Labour’s diminishing working-class support. Factors like the development of right-wing populism, the disappearance of class-based political voting, and the prominence of identity politics has led to the emergence of the idea that Labour is no longer necessarily a political party for the working people.
Reference list
Gidron, N. and Hall, P.A. (2017). Understanding the political impact of white working-class men who feel society no longer values them. [online] EUROPP. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2017/12/23/understanding-the-political-impact-of-white-working-class-men-who-feel-society-no-longer-values-them/.
Hayhurst, M. (2019). ‘Who were those People?’: The Labour Party and the Invisibility of the Working Class. The Political Quarterly, [online] 91(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.12789.
Heath, O. (2013). Policy Representation, Social Representation and Class Voting in Britain. British Journal of Political Science, 45(1), pp.173–193. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007123413000318.
Worley, M. (2016). The Foundations of the British Labour Party. Routledge.
YouGov (2024). The most important issues facing the country. [online] yougov.co.uk. Available at: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/trackers/the-most-important-issues-facing-the-country?crossBreak=abc1.
The source is well structured, and I particularly liked how the blog outlines a brief overview into the Labour Party’s history. It makes some very convincing points about how the Labour Party has drifted away from its original target; the working class. I find myself agreeing with the author’s conclusion that “Labour is no longer necessarily a political party for the working people.” Personally, to further support the blog I would suggest that the author could make use of images and/or graphs, in order to display the Labour Party’s relationship with the working class. Additionally, as the author makes mention of the ‘Third Way’ political party, there could’ve been further expansion on what the Third Way political party policy is, or have provided a link to it. Overall, a very intriguing read.
I found the authors analysis of the stances taken by various Labour party leaders to be very interesting and also highlighted the differing viewpoints that individual leaders can have, despite being representatives of the same party. Perception of party leaders individual stances could indicate why Labour is now leading in the polls under Keir Starmer as opposed to Corbyn who had more old labour policies. There appears to be evidence that Labour’s current stance is appealing to more middle class voters, as in February of this year, Labour won two by-elections in Wellingborough and Kingswood, overturning big Conservative majorities in the process.
The author makes a valid point in highlighting how the Labour Party’s traditional working-class ties have altered considerably, particularly if we consider the results of the most recent general election. There was an inversion of the traditional pattern of class voting between 2015-2019 with large numbers of the working class switching from Labour to Conservative. Working-class voters voted heavily to leave in the Brexit referendum (62%). With the Conservatives promising to “get Brexit done” in their 2019 election campaign, many working class voters moved away from Labour towards the Conservatives. As a result, (as the author mentions in this post) in the 2019 general election, Labour lost many seats in their Northern constituencies which had never previously elected a Conservative MP in a general election, highlighting how Brexit exacerbated the already increasing strain in the traditional working class and Labour relationship.
Despite Labour’s recent lead in the polls in 2024, overtaking the Conservatives considerably, data shows that of those who are moving away from the Conservatives, Reform UK is a more popular choice than Labour amongst the working class, being 50% more likely to switch to Reform than Labour.
There appears to be evidence of changing social values within the UK political landscape, moving beyond the economic divide that previously influenced voters towards either labour or conservative. The defection from the Conservatives to Reform among the working class displays that immigration and related matters are still of high salience to working class voters, with 64% of those 2019 working class Conservative voters who switched to Reform who said immigration is the most important issue facing the country in 2023.
The blog post is structured well, with good subheadings giving an overview of each section. The headline is also good at drawing in the reader due to the rhetorical question on an interesting perspective of the Labour Party As well as this, the blog has a good brief history of Labour and how class is playing less of a key role. After reading the conclusion I agree with the view that labour has drifted away from being a party of the working-class, since New Labour. I also agree this has changed due to a wider context in a societal shift towards the right due to populism. The blog post could benefit from some relevant images just to keep the reader engaged as well as going into more detail of the consequences of moving away from a working-class base.
This blog post evaluated the change in the Labour Party really well, the structure provided key topics concerning this and made it an engaging read. The impact of the Third Way and Tony Blair was obviously a key turning point and showed the shift away from a very left form of politics. The decline of class-based politics as a whole was highlighted well and interestingly discussed the change in class identity. They discussed how a shift to the right as a whole has led to labour being also more right and possibly losing any identification it had with the working classes. I would be interested to hear what left-wing policies they feel labour should propose to turn itself back into a working-class party.