Labour Vote Holds Up. By Election Success for Labour; But Not in Newham

The national trends suggest that Labour should be running close to the Tories. opinions in Labour are divided as to why Starmer has as yet failed to overtake Boris. There are those for whom the eviction of antsemites and self-styled revolutionaries is a betrayal of the historic success enjoyed under the Corbyn leadership. For others, the party will always be unelectable until it has managed to rid itself of the ultra-left.

There will be some relief in London Labour with the result of a recent Ealing by election. Labour maintained its share of the vote compared with 2018; with the London wide elections and the by-election earlier in 2021, we see that Labour increased its percentage of the vote over all of the other parties, gaining an absolute majority. (see report)

That is in London’s north west. How different in the East.

Labour beaten by the party of a disgraced communitarian. The August by-election in Tower Hamlets saw Labour humiliated as a candidate from Lutfar Rahman’s new party, Aspire, defeated Labour’s candidate. 

In Newham, at the by-election for East Ham Central, although Labour retained the seat, they saw a 22% swing against them to the Tories.

Labour, it seems can no longer rely upon particular community groups for their unwavering support. It seems that the game-playing of identity politics may be coming back to bite Labour in the proverbial behind.