Should voters punish Labour for its lockdown stance?

One perfectly valid reason for voting is to reward past success and punish past failures. We have no guarantees about what politicians will do in future, whatever they promise. We know what they did in the past.

For millions of right-wingers, this punish-reward perspective is central to their decision about how to vote in 2024. They may differ a bit on what it is that they want to punish the Tory party for – whether it’s for partygate; ousting Liz Truss; net zero; inflation; Brexit; not making enough of Brexit; high public spending and taxes; too much wokery; too much immigration; or too many lockdowns. Whatever the precise reason for their rage, it is largely looking at the past. The Tories have done wrong and they have to pay the price.

But this backwards-looking perspective significantly colours how we think of other parties as well.