Should the Labour Party only represent Labour Members ?

[clapham_gull]

I find the idea ridiculous. It's a political party not a trade Union.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

If it wants to lose elections then yes . . . .

 

[GT49er]

Should the Labour Party only represent Labour members?
Well, that would be start. More than any other political party has managed in the last half century or so. Labour heartland grass roots voted out; maybe Corbyn should follow his natural instincts, go with that, and all the sodding Blairite neo Tories and neo Lib Dems can go off and join the parties they're really loyal to.

 

[mona]

Perhaps it could rename itself the SWP and become the massive Sheffield Wednesday party.

 

[ROSM]

No party can win an election by appealing to its own narrow supporter base. So no it shouldn't only act to its members because in this day and age of social media, the membership will be less and less in touch with what the wider country wants. They are an echo chamber reinforcing each others opinions. If you believed corbyn supporters the biggest issue facing this country is tony Blair being tried for war crimes and that Corbyn is the man to achieve that. Now that's insular thinking to the nth degree

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I'm not usually a labour supporter, but I want an opposition that's going to challenge the government and keep them in line, even if I voted for the incumbent government. I don't want a say in who makes up the opposition, though, I wouldn't like any of them I suspect.

 

[Ernest]

Should the Tory Party only represent the rich and big businesses?

 

[The Birdman]

Absolutely no the Real Tory party believes in one nation which includes everybody we have a very mixed party but yes we do have our share of twats which give us a bad name. I believe that everybody should try to improve there lives however those that need help should get it. But we need a healthy economy so we can help the less well off.

 

[Gwylan]

Should the Labour Party only represent Labour members?
Well, that would be start. More than any other political party has managed in the last half century or so. Labour heartland grass roots voted out; maybe Corbyn should follow his natural instincts, go with that, and all the sodding Blairite neo Tories and neo Lib Dems can go off and join the parties they're really loyal to.

Funnily enough, that''s what The Telegraph was saying yesterday. I can't find it now but the article stated that Corbyn should come out as a Brexiter and lead a leavers party.

It would be an interesting move if he did but it could turn support upside down, he may be able to hold on to northern towns and cities but he'd be screwed in London.

 

[beorhthelm]

Funnily enough, that''s what The Telegraph was saying yesterday. I can't find it now but the article stated that Corbyn should come out as a Brexiter and lead a leavers party.

its too late for that now, for the man of conscious to do a pivot on such an issue. the funny thing is, he isnt a remainer and i believe he chose to sit in that camp as a political calculation to not be seen on the losing side. whoops.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Of course it should only represent it's members.


Of course if that means we need another party to be the official opposition or in power, then so be it.

 

[Machiavelli]

Should the Tory Party only represent the rich and big businesses?

They do represent the rich and big business, but their genius is that that is not the perception held by a substantial sector of the public.
The Labour Party especially, but the left in general, is way off the majority public opinion and needs to generate a narrative that grips. This will take a long time, probably decades.

 

[sten_super]

Of course it should only represent it's members.


Of course if that means we need another party to be the official opposition or in power, then so be it.

But the problem is that the members are a very select subgroup of the people that voted for the party at the last GE (or an even more select subgroup of the people that are represented by a Labour MP). With membership levels generally on a downward trend, this is only going to get worse.

The Tories have a similar problem (although it's less severe because of how the leadership election works). The Bow Group of Tory members have polled on preferred leaders and the results were;

Leadsom & Fox 48.74%
Johnson & Gove 32.09%
May 13.69%
Crabb & Javid 5.39%

...which suggests that the membership is more right wing that the MPs and much more so than the voters that elected them.

 

[Gwylan]

The Tories have a similar problem (although it's less severe because of how the leadership election works). .

It will be interesting if Johnson does win the election. He may be popular with members but he's widely disliked and distrusted by many MPs - it's not quite as extreme as Corbyn and the Labour Party but there is definitely that element.

I do wonder whether what's happening with Labour will have an influence on the Tory election

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

But the problem is that the members are a very select subgroup of the people that voted for the party at the last GE (or an even more select subgroup of the people that are represented by a Labour MP). With membership levels generally on a downward trend, this is only going to get worse.

The Tories have a similar problem (although it's less severe because of how the leadership election works). The Bow Group of Tory members have polled on preferred leaders and the results were;

Leadsom & Fox 48.74%
Johnson & Gove 32.09%
May 13.69%
Crabb & Javid 5.39%

...which suggests that the membership is more right wing that the MPs and much more so than the voters that elected them.

Is that a poll of all Tory members or just a poll of a subgroup ( Bow group ) of them ?

 

[sten_super]

Is that a poll of all Tory members or just a poll of a subgroup ( Bow group ) of them ?

I'm afraid I saw it on twitter so don't know all of the details. I assume it's just a poll of the members of the Bow Group, who describe themselves as 'centre-right'. So Leadsom & Fox almost certainly don't have that level of support across the party as a whole; but I do think there's the potential for a similar gap between the MPs and the membership (given that only a shortlist of two, decided upon based on MP vote-offs, gets put in front of the membership to elect).

A big part of the problem is the declining size of membership, making it ever-less representative. I'm not quite sure how you tackle that; perhaps by lowering the bar (e.g. cost) to entry?

 

[Biscuit]

I respect JC a lot, but I want to see Labour being a credible opposition, and that is not currently the case. I've always supported labour as I fall, politically speaking, slightly left of centre. The Labour party should reflect this in my opinion, they are going far too far to the extreme left. That isn't healthy and it won't see them win an election.

There Blairites will get their way, and the country will have a decent opposition at last. If they don't, I'll see what other political parties aline with my world-view.

 

[Joe Gatting's Dad]

MP's are supposed to represent their constituents who elected them

 

[synavm]

Total agree with the notion that the Labour Party membership is out of touch with the wider electorate and the socioeconomic shifts occurring in Britian.

I am a now former member of the Labour Party. The trouble with the new members is that they do not understand the culture of the party, 61% of the members that joined since the General Election haven't even showed up to a meeting. Labour has always represented a broad cross section of views from the far left to the centre.

What you're seeing now is a surge of members gathered from social media who are totally intolerant to differing views, always resorting to tags like 'neoliberal', 'blairite', 'zionist' it's needlessly hostile, but the fact is they are now the majority of the membership and they are regarded as sovereign by Corbyn and McDonnell- unsurprisingly. The result of this will be half a million people talking to themselves, it'll be the demise of the 'broad church' and the party will become increasingly insular and out of touch.

The electorate desperately needs the Labour Party to split as part of a wider political realignment, with the right of the party forming a new centrist coalition with the Lib Dems and disaffected 'One Nation' Tories.

 

[ROSM]

Ask yourself one question. In referenda people don't vote on a broad range, they vote on one specific issue. If JC is so in touch with the core labour vote, why didn't he make massive efforts to get them to align their vote to his party view?

There are many answers, many of which are likely to be that labour doesn't represent the view of their core constituency - unions are becoming more of a side show and the swp or momentum are no closer to the minds of the working class left than tony Blair was. In fact they may be further away