Local Elections: The naysayers were wrong

I’m watching the UK election results from Athens. One thing I am not missing is shrieky BBC journalists frame it all as a “disaster for Jeremy Corbyn”. In fact it’s much bigger and more complex story. — Paul Mason, former Economics Editor, Channel 4 News

The naysayers were proved wrong. Labour was not wiped out in the local elections, far from it.

In spite of best efforts of Blairites and Zionists, Labour was not wiped out in the local elections.

Labour increased its share of the vote compared with the General Election a year ago. Not that the two are comparable. Locally people should vote on local matters, vote for people, not parties.

We also now have a multi-party system, not two party, therefore the share of the votes for Labour and Conservative will trend downwards, as votes are picked up by other parties and at local level, Independents.

Across the United Kingdom different results. In London a Labour Mayor. In Wales a Labour Welsh Assembly. In Scotland an SNP Scottish Parliament. In England Labour increased both its share of the vote and the number of council seats.

And yet, listening to the BBC at midday, one would have thought a disaster for Labour, or as they report it, a disaster for Jeremy Corbyn. And true to form, BBC grant a soapbox for a toxic member of the Labour Party to attack Jeremy Corbyn and call for a leadership challenge.

In the Mail, ‘Luvvies turn on Jeremy Corbyn’, Charlotte Church was mentioned. What Charlotte Church actually said was that she supports Jeremy Corbyn but does not support Labour in Wales.

It is time the gloves came off.

Labour activists have to get their act together, they have to turn up en masse to their local parties, pass votes of no-confidence in these toxic Labour MPs who week in week out are attacking Jeremy Corbyn, aided and abetted by the mainstream media, and de-select them.

The Party that did badly was the Green Party. With a disaster as leader and peddling ludicrous nonsense on the EU is not going to win votes. Nor is putting forward useless candidates and expecting to get votes just because they wear a green label.

Progressives of all parties, have to cooperate and work together.

They also have to recognise, that Westminster and the Town Hall, is not the be all and end all.