Across the West, working-class voters are abandoning the Left

Imagine going back twenty years in a time machine, when a young Tony Blair was about to be swept to power on a wave of optimism, and telling someone* that in 2017, Labour would be on just 16 per cent among working-class voters – and this despite having a leader several octaves to the left of Blair. Not only this, but that a number of Labour seats in the north and the midlands were ‘now in Tory sights’.  Imagine then telling them that this was happening while the Conservatives were making spending cuts in areas like education, and that there was an ongoing crisis in health and social care. You then let them know that almost all the government’s attention is by necessity focused on leaving the European Union. Surely, your Britpop-era companion would say in his affected Mancunian accent, a competent and moderate Labour leader would have the government party on the ropes? That’s what many people at the moment believe.