On the UK Elections

No need to go into great detail as the results have been analysed abley elsewhere (I nicked the delightful pie chart from there…cheers Jim!).

However there are 3 points worth reiterating

1) The Left

The Left did almost universally disastrously. Clearly something in the message and the methods is not working. No amount of optimistic spin can change this. Hopefully, these results will provide a long overdue wake up call.

2) The Far Right

Whilst some take comfort from lower than expected gains for the BNP, there should be no escaping the fact that gaining a London Assembly member is a major breakthrough that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. The BNP are getting closer to a European style permanent presence in the British political landscape.

Also even the to all intents and purposes defunct National Front managed to attract large amounts of votes in some areas.

3) The Green Party

The only comfort in these elections was the continued progress of the Greens (albeit modest). The simple lesson to be drawn from this is that the Green Party represents the most practical vehicle for success with libertarian, progressive and ecosocialist ideas, and that the Greens manage to do something the Left do not. Those of us who would self define as being  on the left of the party should be cautioned by this against jumping into bed too easily with sympathetic elements of what remains of the old left. Similarly those of our allies still clinging onto leftist praxis (as it were) would be well to take a step back and critically analyse where exactly they are.