Apologies for the late update. I actually started writing this a week ago, but some important things in my personal life made it difficult for me to write for a while.
Cuts to welfare. Increased use of food banks. Threats to our civil liberties. NHS privatisation. 10,600 people dying within six months of being declared fit for work by Atos over a ten-month period. This is what we have been subjected to by the Conservative Party and what I have been working against. It would appear that the 'opposition' is now that in all but name, as from what has been shown in recent weeks, the Labour Party has been disgracefully weak in opposing the Tory agenda. This is not very far from what I was expecting actually, but is still a huge blow (and much appreciation to the 48 Labour MPs who defied Harriet Harman's decree that the new Welfare Reforms be abstained by Labour, and voted against them anyway).
I recently read an article that suggested Labour could be led just as effectively by an automated out-of-office email, and to be honest I find this hard to argue with. It really does not seem just now that they are the opposition that they claim to be. Harriet Harman, instead of being the inspirational figurehead that Labour really does need, appears to be playing a political game that I really struggle to understand. According to the Independent, Andy Burnham abstained from the vote on the Welfare Reforms despite being vehemently opposed to them, because that way he can unite the party against it, and get Labour's wishy-washy amendments pushed through. Presumably he will therefore be telling people in the leadership elections to support him but abstain from voting in order to unite the British public in his favour.
However, it may not all be bad news for Labour, as the popularity of Jeremy Corbyn has taken the media by storm over the last few weeks. I know anecdotally of people who have eaten their words and registered as a one-off supporter of the Labour Party in order to be able to vote for Corbyn in the election. There has been much discussion from all different angles - we have, for want of a better term, the 'new Labour' politicians threatening to leave if he gets elected, displaying an arrogance and lack of respect for democracy that I really should not be surprised at by now; we have numerous articles claiming that Corbyn will be the best thing that has happened to this country for the last thirty years, and a few other left-wing social commentators concerned that the hysteria surrounding Corbyn will lead to disappointment, as he may be elevated into something too good to be true.
Underneath all of this, however, one thing is solid; we may not know exactly how he would fare as leader in the event of his election, but in Jeremy Corbyn, we have someone who appears to condemn the policies implemented by the Conservative Party in a way that promotes direct opposition to them, as opposed to the ineffectual attitude of the rest of the Labour Party, which to me does not show any of the backbone that an opposition needs to show. Over the last few months, I would say that the main opposition to the Conservatives has been the Scottish National Party. Labour are not currently doing anything to earn that distinction in Parliament. I do not know if history will remember Jeremy Corbyn as the hero who saved Labour or as the villain who was popular and let people down, but I believe that the only chance, however remote, that Labour has of earning back the status of opposition lies with him. For me, that is a good enough reason to elect him.
Click here for information on how to vote in the Labour election. You need to be either a member of Labour, an affiliated supporter (meaning that you support them through an affiliated party) or a registered one-off supporter, which costs £3. Ballot papers are sent out on Friday 14 August (two weeks from the time of writing) and the deadline for registering is Wednesday 12 August. You do need to be on the electoral register to vote.
I strongly encourage anyone reading this to do what they can to ensure that they are able to vote for the new leader of the Labour Party, and to vote for Jeremy Corbyn. I'm not so naive to think that with his election, everything will get better straight away. I've been in this game for long enough to know that every positive result involves a long hard slog. I prefer to think of each campaign as being one more step towards achieving a decent society, and I think that electing Jeremy Corbyn could be the next step right now.
I shall post further updates soon.
