Has the left collapsed?

And it appears to be long-term – despite the 1997 landslide, Labour went on to lose seats in every general election until 2017.

 

Barry Richards, a political psychology expert from Bournemouth University, said the left may have struggled because of: “A failure to really acknowledge the importance to people of cultural identity, a feeling they do belong to a collective which is real. That’s not to say this has to be bound up with some sort of superiority in that group, you can feel very strongly about your group, but you’re not necessarily devaluing other groups.”

 

Those on the far-right construct a narrative and problems that they have solutions. Anti-migrant rhetoric has been common in manifestos across Europe. Richards says the left’s narrative does not attract voters as well: “There’s something about left-liberal politics that asks more of people in an emotional way, it’s quite a demand to say the world is big and scary but you must be generous to people, you must welcome other people.

 

“The way in which parties present themselves cannot be ignored either, Simon Choat, a political theorist from Kingston University said the Tory slogan of ‘Get Brexit Done’ was easy to understand and get behind. This played a part in the party winning 162 more seats than Labour in December. As for the opposition party: “Labour didn’t help itself, the policies individually were quite popular but they didn’t have a coherent narrative.

 

Labour seemed to be offering just a mish mash of different policies.” The first task of Labour’s new leader will be to craft a story that resonates louder with the voters that have left them.