The Labour-Tory Duopoly

The fact is, the age of traditional party allegiances is over. The public now has more complex positions and nuanced views. The parties have struggled to adapt, trapped in a binary voting system that kills off fresh thinking and amplifies disagreements into full blown factional warfare. Party officials deploy byzantine rule books to punish dissent while the gap between the leadership and ordinary members becomes a chasm.

Both Labour and the Tories are starting to impose ‘state approved’ candidates because they simply don’t trust their members. For Labour this goes for the unions as well (but if they could keep paying the bills that would be great). Equally, the Tories have never been more distant from the needs of commerce, as the exodus of big business donors to Labour shows.

Despite this, our First Past the Post electoral system is propping up the ‘two old boys of Westminster’ while crushing the life out of smaller parties, regardless of their support, and yes…votes cast. But those votes don’t count. Literally. I mean they literally do not affect the outcome of the election on any level. Voters for marginal parties are wasting paper. We have an election system where it’s almost environmentally irresponsible to print the correct number of ballot papers. 

The local election results reinforce this gradual breakdown of the Tory/Labour duopoly. This is a trend that I hope continues. The further the distance between the electorate and their available options, the stronger the demand for change. Why am I so focused on electoral reform efforts within Labour? Because, for better or worse, under our current system, they are the only party who have even a chance of implementing real, lasting change. Frustrated, politically homeless progressives must pressure them into doing so. 

We must keep reassuring Labour their red shirt looks fine and reminding them the away fans are there to support the away team. Tell them they wouldn’t be where they are now without home support, including from the ‘fleas’ (which I really hope didn’t mean Muslims). Make sure they hear the majority of fans in the stadium, not just the home team, chanting for them to give the ball the lightest of touches, sending it slowly over the line into the goal almost regardless of what direction they kick it in. 

I joined Alliance Now UK because I hope this shift in public thinking will not just bring a change in the way votes are counted but systemic constitutional change. PR on its own will not be enough, and that is what ALL argues. Much like climate change, we need to stop thinking about whether to address these issues, and start the conversation from the basis that we need to. ALL aims to turn progressive voters who know what they’re against, into people who know what they’re for. 

Our immediate issue is that Labour must deliver changes they probably can’t envisage at the moment. External pressure will be vital. The way forward is simple; it is to keep going. Keep existing. Keep having conversations that make Labour uncomfortable, but in a way that also plays to their sense of ownership of revolutionary acts.

Present this as an opportunity for their collective ego, to take credit for something profoundly good. An irreversible change in public life that will bear their mark for generations to come, just as the NHS does. As a recently departed member, with years of active involvement, I still want (need?) Labour to genuinely succeed, as do progressives of all stripes. 

You’re probably wondering whether you should vote for them. Well firstly, which constituency do you live in? Who is most likely to beat your local Tory and ‘yeet them into the sun’ as Superantskii puts it. Read what you like into that comment. Secondly, it’s up to you. This is a democracy after all. Sort of.