A few takeaways from the UK General Election that Democrats might want to consider going into 2020

[Soph0571]

The Corbyn project failed. This is the worst election results, for Labour, since the 1930’s and while they will try and say this is all about Brexit, that is only part of it. In the UK equivalent of the ‘rust belt’ working class areas they have roundly rejected the far-left politics of the current Labour administration and turned to the Conservatives. The sad thing is that because they felt that the left did not give them a reasonable offer, they felt they had no option but to turn to the right – these are died in the wool Labour heartlands, it would have been inconceivable even a year ago that this would be the outcome.

There is a myriad of reasons for this and some of those I think should resonate with the race next year. They felt disenfranchised and left behind after the results of the referendum were not implemented in a timely way and they did not feel that a Westminster centric Labour Party neither understood them nor spoke for them…

Voters are not stupid (mostly). You promise people the earth, a land of milk honey they will suspected that you are talking bollocks, and this is exactly what the Corbyn project did. Labour will be locked out for a decade because of this result and it could have been utterly avoided, and the most vulnerable in our society will bear the brunt of this.

Most people are moderate – they forgot that.

Most people just want to get on with their lives and support themselves and their families without thinking they will be taxed to death because of unrealistic spending plans – they forgot that.

Most people want to be heard – they definitely forgot that.

Expecting anyone to fundamentally change their ethos and principles to fit into how a metropolitan elite see things is not credible. They will tell you to fuck off…

This was not just about Brexit. This was about a whole lot more than that, and the landscape has changed significantly because of it.
I know that the UK is not the US, but one thing I take away from this General Election is that people did not so much vote for Boris as much as they rejected Corbyn, and the decision you all make on who is going to take on Trump will be a major deciding factor on whether the Democrats take the White House in 2020. Americans are more fiscally and socially conservative generally than the UK, right? Democrats need to put up a credible offer in he heartlands in 2020 otherwise it may be the same story. Not so much voting for something but against it.

Just my two pence worth.

[evertonfc]

1. Corbyn

was the worst candidate they could have ran. Not liked by people in his own party. You make good points but in America Presidential elections are personality contests. Biden will beat race Trump. We don't have a Corbyn.

[Amimnoch]

5. You think Sanders is liked by the majority in our party?

Interesting.

I think there’s a lot of parallels that can be drawn here. More than most of his supporters will be willing to admit.. hmm.. sounds even more like Corbyn’s own support now doesn’t it?

[crazytown]

7. "I think there's a lot of parallels that can be drawn here"

and there are a lot of differences.

[evertonfc]

11. dunno

I support Biden but I think Bernie is respected for bringing some important issues mainstream. He has crossover appeal that Corbyn didnt..

[Dem4Life1102]

2. Well said

[crazytown]

3. Bunk

There was no man born as Clement Attlee.

[OKNancy]

4. Great post

I've read several analysis articles about the election. One thing many say is "twitter is not a gauge on what US voters want"
That makes me feel better since my choice is Biden. It annoys me when some call Biden a Republican or Republican lite (not light they always spell it lite).
Republican are not pro choice
Republicans aren't strong union supporters
Republicans aren't close to the African-American community
Republicans don't support the Affordable Care Act
Republicans don't support Dreamers
Republicans don't support LGBTQ rights

Most of all Republicans DO support Trump.

[ritapria]

6. The Conservatives received just 43.6% of the Vote

The Centre-left in the UK divides itself 4 ways : Labour, The Liberal Democrats , The SNP and the Greens ….. The Conservatives only shared a tiny part of the right-wing vote with the Brexit Party- who received just 2% of the vote nationwide … The centrist party of the UK, The Lib Dems , captured only 11 seats and lost their leader , Jo Swinson … The Lib Dems and Labour must become one ..If not , a progressive nation will continue to elect Conservative Governments …..This is particularly true in a "first past the post" system

[Soph0571]

9. And yet the Tory's have a stonking majority

And Labour, under Corbyn has had the worst result since the 30's...this is meaningful, I don't want it to be but it is.

[crazytown]

10. Not the worst result in terms of % of the vote.

It is a nonsense comparison.

[brooklynite]

12. I don't care what the % of the vote was, because it's not relevant

Complain all you want about district elections vs a national list. Complain all you want about the the Electoral College vs a popular vote. Until you change things, those are the rules you win (or lose) under.

[crazytown]

14. Scotland is relevant.

The UK is not comparable to the electoral college.

[brooklynite]

15. I'm pointing out that, in both countries...

pointing to statistics that don't have an impact on how you actually win the election are a waste of time.

[crazytown]

16. Ignoring what happened in Scotland is not a statistic.

[brooklynite]

17. What happened in Scotland was that voters chose SNP over Scottish Labour

What happened in England was that voters chose Conservative over English Labour

[crazytown]

18. What is happening is Scotland

is that nationalism is driving UK affiliated parties to extinction.

[Farmer-Rick]

8. The Labour Party hasn't been "far" left since Tony Blair.

Corbyn may have called himself a socialist but how much of a socialist could he be when Tony Blair secretly looked out for him back in the day. I know Blair bad mouths him today, but as much as Blair is hated today, that may not work against him.

The Labour party's right wing move was orchestrated about the time Blair moved into power positions. And then the antisemitic scandals hit the Labour party which tells me they were moving right a lot faster than anyone anticipated.

So Corbyn has the smell of Blair and the odor of antisemitism. No wonder he lost.

It wasn't because he calls himself a Socialist. Besides, the word Socialist in Europe isn't the evil thing it is here in the US.

[Demsrule86]

21. He ran on policy not brexit....and his policies were soundly rejected.

If we run left, the same will happen here.

[Farmer-Rick]

22. But did the voters believe him? His policy was Not rejected, Corbyn's trustworthiness was rejected.

Tony Blair ran on leftist policy too. But once in office, he pushed policies the right wing loved and promoted. Tony Blair made the rich so much richer and the poor and middle class so much poorer.

It's like if a Democratic candidate said all the right liberal things but once in office, he promoted austerity for the masses and tax cuts for the rich. Other Dem candidates running for the same position after him, would Not be believed either. Just a hypothetical.

[Demsrule86]

24. Yes they believed him...which is why he lost worse than any candidate since the 30's.

Had a more moderate candidate won, I doubt Johnson would have won as he did...we now have a right wing administration in Britain with ties to the Kremlin and our lesson is run Biden. not Warren or Sanders in the general if we want to win...I vote blue no matter who but it will be a disaster for us if we run left.

[Act_of_Reparation]

13. Incorrect.

Most voters certainly are stupid.

[Cha]

19. Mahalo, Soph! I appreciate your thoughtful analysis..

most interesting to get your perspective from across the Pond.

[Soph0571]

20. Thanks love

[The Mouth]

23. Just mock them, call them 'deplorables'

and dismiss them as just a bunch of racist white supremacist nationalists who don't know what's good for them.

That's what worked so well for us in 2016!

Look at all the brilliant and empathic folks here who just say 'fuck anyone who voted for Trump last time, they are irredeemable, deplorable and too stupid to vote their own interest, dumb, heavily armed rednecks"

[Blue_true]

25. You live in Britain and see how things are going daily, but,

I am not sure that Labour will be out for a decade. I am not even sure that Johnson won't be forced into a damaging election for the Tories before 2024. Brexit will likely be a trainwreck. I was reading today about how Venture Capitalists that fund startup companies are looking to Dublin, Paris, Berlin. London has been by far the choice destination for hitech, financial, information startups, Brexit has changed that dynamic considerably, to the negative. Britain will most likely suffer a brain drain as talented people that feel unwelcome there avoid the nation, already applications to British universities by graduate-level foreign students has cradled, it was in the tens of thousands, now it's a tiny fraction of that.

[empedocles]

26. "Most people are moderate - they forgot that'

[Some here have never really considered 'moderates', the 'middle', - where elections are historically won!

[BooScout]

27. As an American expat living in the UK...

Your synopsis falls right along my thinking as well. People were flat out fed up with Corbyn and voted against him more than they voted for Boris.

Corbyn wasn't helping his party by promising to nationalise everything left and right. Labour's manifesto was seen as pie in the sky with no hope of achieving anything and really had no way of ever happening...and the voters knew it.

The takeaways I got from the election are that Labour has moved too far to the left idealogy-wise and they chose a leader who simply could not unite the party. They need someone who can unite the Corbynites and the Blairites and they need so pragmatic enough to get the job done.

Sadly, it's now too late for the UK. We are going to be dragged into Brexit come hell or highwater and we will suffer the consequences. Labour blew every single chance to get a 2nd referendum on the table.

The biggest lesson America needs to take from this fiasco is ...move to the center....and appeal to the people fed up with Trump.