Barnsley Labour leader nails the problem, but too late to stop Reform

The longstanding Labour leader of Barnsley Council has nailed the disaster of politicians neglecting post-industrial areas in the North for so long. But considering he’s been in power in Barnsley for ages, and Labour is likely to have an awful election result, it’s too little too late.

Stephen Houghton, who has held his seat by the skin of his teeth (23 votes), told the BBC:

What’s happening now has been building for the last 30 years. We’ve seen post-industrial places, seaside places, communities, all being left behind over the last 30 years and seeing their communities deteriorate

That decline actually started even earlier, with Margaret Thatcher devastating countless industrial communities in the North and further afield.

Houghton added that many people who don’t usually vote were attending the polling stations on 7 May, and lots of them weren’t going to vote for Labour. And he said:

The root cause is degradation of communities over a long period of time and people have enough of it…

There needs to be a new economic deal for large parts of the North that have never recovered from what happened when those staple industries disappeared.

He’s absolutely right. But the problem is Labour has governed in Barnsley for five decades, and Houghton has been in charge for three of those. So when he calls for “a rethink” in Labour and says it “might need someone else” to lead the party, it really is just weak, empty words.

Obscenely wealthy individuals are using Reform to distract people who are justifiably angry — Labour are feeling the sting

As the Canary reported during the election campaign:

For 50 years, Labour has run the council, with one man leading it for 30 years. As a former mining area, it played a key role in fuelling the Industrial Revolution. But Margaret Thatcher decimated these working-class areas, setting off an elite offensive that has served the rich at ordinary people’s expense ever since.

Barnsley North MP Dan Jarvis, who has received the backing of dodgy right-wing group Labour Together, is a good example of how the Thatcher era sucked Labour into the elite offensive too. Labour today is fully aware that it’s losing power in Barnsley and similar areas, but it seems to be offering too little too late.

The Thatcherites at Reform UK, meanwhile, have been targeting Barnsley. But as Greens in Barnsley told us, some Reform campaign material has been focusing on racist leader Nigel Farage and divisive national issues rather than on the local concerns that people in Barnsley have.

Thanks to the ‘donations’ of dodgy and obscenely wealthy individuals, Reform has campaigned hard in places like Barnsley. And because local voters desperately want change, many will have seen Reform as a way to show Labour the door. That’s why, as the results came in, Houghton said:

It’s clear Reform will have a majority, we’re going to have to move into opposition…

I think a lot of this was predicted, so sadly, not a surprise.

Houghton’s comments about Barnsley show high-profile Labour figures know exactly what the problem is — the economic scarring of decades of industrial decline. They just haven’t done anything meaningful to fix this situation. And that’s why so many people across the country are turning away from Keir Starmer’s Labour.

Featured image via MEN