Gordon Brown’s worst nightmare was realised early today as the Scottish National Party triumphed by taking Glasgow East, one of Labour’s safest seats. The hopes of Labour strategists that their disastrous run of electoral setbacks was about to end were dashed as the SNP’s John Mason achieved the enormous 22 per cent swing required to topple the long-time stronghold. The result will intensify doubts among Labour MPs about Mr Brown’s ability to win a general election and could spell trouble at Labour’s conference in the autumn when a weakened Prime Minister will have trouble getting his way on a range of policy issues. — For the first time in its history, Labour is losing the support not just of so-called Middle Britain but of a large swathe of its core working-class support. In May the party suffered heavy losses in the local elections in South Wales. Then came defeat in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election in industrial northern England. And now Glasgow East. If repeated at the next general election, the enormous anti-Labour swing in Glasgow East would be enough to sweep away more than half the present parliamentary Labour Party. Scores of seats that were once ultra-safe for Labour are now highly marginal. Nor is the phenomenon peculiarly Scottish. The SNP’s victory in Glasgow East has little or nothing to do with Scottish nationalism. It reflects the profound discontent with Gordon Brown and New Labour currently affecting the whole country. The SNP is merely Scotland’s vehicle for expressing that discontent.
Und hier beschreibe ich Labours grünen Selbstmord: In effect, the Labour Party is gradually pricing the working and lower-middle classes out of their comfort zone. With these core voters counting the rising cost of green taxes, tariffs and restrictions, the Labour Party’s chances of re-election are dwindling. Labour’s fundamental miscalculation has been to bank on the strength of the environmental movement and climate change anxiety in an attempt to “modernize” its agenda. Labour’s climate policy, however, is now backfiring, turning into one of its biggest political liabilities. A recent survey suggests that more than 70% of British voters are no longer willing to pay higher taxes to fund climate change initiatives. In fact, two-thirds of those surveyed believe that the green agenda has been exploited in order to increase taxes. Britain’s Labour government may believe that its climate policies are saving the planet. But in the process they are destroying the foundations of the party.