Election misery for Keir Starmer keeps piling up

Keir Starmer and a Labour Party backdrop


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Elections in Britain are less than 24 hours away. For Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, the misery just keeps on piling up. But is it fair to say the 6 May results will give an idea of what the public thinks of ‘Keith’ and Labour?

Starmer: bringing on the heartache

On Thursday 6 May, people will vote in elections for English councils, Scottish and Welsh parliaments, the London Assembly, and local mayor, and police and crime commissioners. As The Canary previously reported, there’s also a by-election in Hartlepool. Polling suggests that Labour will lose the seat.

People on social media were reminding us that under Jeremy Corbyn Labour won Hartlepool twice:

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Meanwhile, as Ben Jolly tweeted, one voter didn’t even know who Starmer was:

And the Labour Party overall appears to be facing issues:

Scottish Labour has also changed leaders but is only forecast to gain one seat:

And Sadiq Khan appears to be losing ground in the London Mayor elections:

So, as Labour Insider tweeted:

Is Labour set for a disaster on 6 May? Quite possibly.

The real threat

But, of course, the real threat in the English council elections is voter apathy. Since 2010, turnout for London borough, unitary, and county council elections has rarely been more than 39% (unless it’s been a general election year where turnout is then higher). In the same period, for the Scottish parliament, it ranges from 50-55%; in Wales the figure is around 41-45%. This is all versus a 67.3% turnout in the 2019 general election. In terms of Hartlepool, the by-elections in 2018-19 tended to get lower turnouts than general elections – anything between 37-59%.

So, while some are saying that the results on 6 May will give an indication of what voters think of Starmer and Labour, this isn’t the whole picture. The elections will give us a comparison like-for-like with previous ones. But if, at best, only half of the electorate actually vote, it’s a pretty slim measure of how Labour is doing. If turnout is similar to previous years, the bigger question will be why don’t people care about local democracy? And that’s one that all parties need to answer.

Featured image via Guardian News – YouTube

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  • Show Comments

    1. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s Leadership Labour won Hartlepool twice!

      And there you have the very reason why “Labour” losing Hartlepool is “””ALL Jeremy Corbyn’s fault, people did not want to vote for him and was forced to do so twice, now they won’t do it any more! That Nasty Antisemite, Terrorist Sympathiser, wreath laying, worst kind of human, Russia Hugging, Venezuela Loving, Lenin’s Hat Wearing, Marxist IRA Communist Corbyn, it’s all his fault!””” (GEEZAAS! Flashbacks from 2015 to 2020!!!) It’s a wonder such a “””Bad and Dangerous Man””” is still free and a Member if Parliament!

      Droid Found on Hartlepool Waterfront!
      https://www.reddit.com/r/UKpoliticalmemes/comments/n5fb2i/thats_it_getting_obsessed_now/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

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    2. Have you noticed how cold it is? That’s because Jeremey Corbyn used to be leader of the Labour Party. And the rain? Yes, you’re right. From now till eternity everything that goes wrong for Labour will be Corbyn’s fault just as everything that goes wrong in Britain will be the fault of the EU.
      Seriously though, Labour is a moral vacuum. Starmer has handed its anti-Semitism panel over to supporters of Israeli racism and oppression. The party stands for nothing anyone can recognise as principled. The membership is ignored, suspended, expelled. Members are a problem. They have views, they want to discuss, they want to make policy. But Big Brother discusses nothing and all policy is in his hands. In a short year Labour has gone from a party which genuinely wanted thoroughgoing economic and social change, openness, democracy, equality, liberty, to a soulless vote-garnering machine which hates all dissent, can’t tolerate discussion, loathes the very idea of equality, believes capitalism is the natural order, embraces nuclear weapons, won’t accept a new green deal and kisses the backside of a regime which HRW has just accused of apartheid. Dismal, Desperate. Labour needs the coup de grace. Leave. Don’t vote for it. Shove it into the sea and watch it drown. And rise up as free, autonomous citizens to challenge the rule of money and bring about the society of true equality and liberty which is ours for the taking.

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      1. You are quite right magicmancunian. We had two once in a lifetime, overnight, opportunities for “true equality and liberty” in 2017 and 2019. The People chose to have their heads filled with Sabotage, Undermining, Lies and Propaganda by Thatcher’s 80% Neoliberal Neolabour Party Tory PLP and chose not to hear the Message and Manifestos of The Democratic Socialist UK Labour Party! People chose to get personal and vote against Jeremy, when they were meant to vote for the Party not the Man. Others did not vote for the Party in fear that only 20% PLP were Democratic Socialist and possible post Election Coups.
        Now that the easy overnight option is gone, we only have one option, to remove The Problem = Neolabour Party Tories, the hard and long way. We VOTE them OUT!
        We the Electorate have the Power and We the Electorate are “The Boss” of our MPs! They Work for US! We choose who stays and who goes!

        2017 and 2019 we had CHOICE:
        Democratic Socialist UK Labour Party = For THE PEOPLE = An End to 41 Years of Thatcherite Neoliberal Tory Hell!
        OR
        Thatcher’s Neoliberal Conservative Party Tories = For THEMSELVES & THE ELITES = A Continuation of 41 Years of Thatcherite Neoliberal Tory Hell!

        2024 we have NO CHOICE:
        Thatcher’s Neoliberal Neolabour Party Tories = For THEMSELVES & THE ELITES = A Continuation of 46 Years of Thatcherite Neoliberal Tory Hell!
        OR
        Thatcher’s Neoliberal Conservative Party Tories = For THEMSELVES & THE ELITES = A Continuation of 46 Years of Thatcherite Neoliberal Tory Hell!

        Our ONLY option to get The UK Labour Party back to The People is to completely rid our Party of Thatcher’s Neoliberal Tory Parasite Party within The UK Labour Party and the only way we can do that is by being ruthless and take the suffering (however I believe the suffering is far worse and prolonged by keeping them in and pretending they are not Tories) by voting them out with their strongest opponent whoever or whatever that may be!

        We will end up with a very small PLP 10/20/30, but a MASSIVE Membership (as HOPE has returned. NO or VERY FEW Sabotaging Tories who will be easier to sniff out), CLP, Union Support. Let’s face it 1 Democratic Socialist UK Labour Party MP has more power and passion than of all the 190 Self Serving Neoliberal Neolabour Party Tories combined!
        We’ll have Democratic Socialist Candidates ready and rearing to go for every seat in no time. Jeremy’s Red Roses are budding, He spent nearly 5 years as the Gardener planting the red rose seeds (Corbynism) and we can see them budding now, we even had a few early blooms, Zarah, Apsana, Bel, Claudia and Laura P, Laura S, who we will hopefully see back in their seats in 2024, those two women are the model of what a Labour Candidate should be, regardless of what happened, they continue to serve their Communities as though they are still the MP for that Constituency, Inspiring and all six of them Perfect Future Prime Ministers!

        My advice:
        If your MP/Candidate is a Thatcherite Neolabour Party Tory vote for their Strongest Opponent WHOEVER/WHATEVER, PURELY to get the Tory OUT of our Party!
        AND
        If your Candidate/MP is a Democratic Socialist UK Labour Party Comrade of The PEOPLE, VOTE FOR THEM!

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    3. Kier Starmer is a LINO. A establishment plant intended to destroy the Labour Party movement.

      Jeremy Corbyn scared the living daylights out of them. Not because of their ridiculous claims he was a pinko or antisemitic, both fabricated story lines, but because he was bringing the Labour movement alive again. The youthful future of Britain saw through the Tory lies and Jeremy was the only open and honest leader they could trust.

      The idiotic Tony B’Liar faction could not bring themselves to see they were wrong and their feckless ex-leader was a charlatan so they undermined Jeremy the only way they could. They lied and lied and lied.

      True blue Kier Starmer would make a better Conservative Party leader the bogus Johnson. But then, so would Tony B’Liar too. The real Labour Party membership needs to seriously think about creating a new left wing party. Not a ‘new’ labour. A REAL Labour Party.

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    4. It is difficult to argue with the comments above. However, there are still good comrades in the LP trying to win it back to a path of democratic socialism we briefly glimpsed with Corbyn. They get my support in that because the LP still has a (diminishing) reputation with the general public of being a party of fairness, this is worth building on. However, the timescale that must apply must be finite, and with an agreed programme of the necessary minimum changes we need to see for Labour to be a viable party of the Left.

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      1. At 90/95% PLP of Thatcher’s Anti-Socialist Neoliberal Neolabour Party Tories, I don’t see a glimmer of hope. I just feel it is counterproductive to keep the Neolabour Tories in Our Party. We may become a Small Party for one term, but with no internal sabotage the message will come out loud and clear and we’ll take the following GE, UK Labour Party is not a small affair, it is currently a Small Party Occupied by the majority Neolabour Party Tories, who will not stop their destruction until we are another USA Democrat Party, perfectly equal to their Republicans/our Conservatives all “working hard” for Themselves and The Elites NOT The PEOPLE!
        I say get them out, start again, Small, with a Massive Membership, CLPs, Unions we will have an MP/Candidate for every 650 seats in the house and with ALL our United and Organised (this time round) Hard work and Effort, The next GE is ours

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