A loss of face and soul: The left is no longer of the many

Caerphilly, October 2025. As the citizens of the Welsh constituency pondered who to elect to the Senedd, the Labour battle bus came rolling in (no, seriously). “Only Labour can stop Reform in Caerphilly,” was their tagline, with a big, scary bar chart. It attempted to convince voters that Plaid Cymru would split the vote, and lead to a Reform victory, lest one stood behind Labour. Neither prophecy came true. On 23 October, the voters of Caerphilly managed to overturn a political stronghold that had lasted a 100 years. It was not to the bogeyman Farage, but to Plaid. Has Labour learnt anything from this? In my view, no. They are doing the exact same in Gorton and Denton right now. Another scary bar chart, another attempt to coerce people into swallowing mediocrity.

The folks at Warwick Labour will insist to you that Starmer’s policies are “good” – that it’s just the communications that are bad. I care to disagree strongly. The loss of face of the “left” is inherently tied to a loss of soul. Glance at Labour’s campaigning, and it doesn’t seem that terrible. Raised minimum wage, renters’ rights, annual energy bills down by £150. Seems like good action at first, right? Wrong. Maybe they do provide short-term benefits, but then ask yourself this: why aren’t these messages getting across?

Never mind the broken record of “it’s the Tories’ fault!” – if Mamdani has shown anyone anything, it is that there’s a difference between real action and just offering cookie crumbs

The answer is that Labour stands above an economy that is rigged to the core. What good is it that my wages go up slightly if I still can’t afford to buy a house without working two, possibly three, jobs? What good is it that I’m less likely to be evicted, if I still owe half my monthly salary just to live in a flat? What good is it that my services bills are going down, if my local water company still constantly has problems, while the government offers nothing but bailouts and no actual solutions?

Never mind the broken record of “it’s the Tories’ fault!” – if Mamdani has shown anyone anything, it is that there’s a difference between real action and just offering cookie crumbs. And this is where the Labour formula falls apart. It is no longer the party of social democracy. It has left privatisation in place, it is actively undermining unions, and it is letting the market squeeze people out of the economy. It is the party of loveless liberalism and endless, meaningless compromises. And the various scandals (from Rayner’s NYC flat to Mandelson in the Epstein Files) only reinforce this. Labour is sorely out of touch with the working people, in policy and in tone. 

Scaring your voters into mediocrity is a strategy that cannot last forever

This is when the inner Blairite screams: “I have lost control; it is time to bring out the stranglehold.” Fear is the only trump card Labour has left in its suit. They did it in the general election against the Tories, now they’re doing it against Reform. All they can rely on is the age- old paradigm of the two-party system, and the prospect of things getting worse under Farage. It is a last-ditch effort – desperation and wailing. As much as Labour would like to think otherwise, it will only delay their inevitable demise. 

If you aren’t convinced, look across the pond. In the 2024 Presidential Election, Kamala Harris’s mantra was “unless you want US democracy to erode, don’t vote for Trump.” It failed…miserably. Why? Voters will inevitably vote for which candidate they feel is most likely to improve their material circumstances. Even if it was flawed from the beginning, at least Trump sounded like he knew what was doing. And now, even though he is facing decline, nobody has serious faith that the Democrats will do anything beyond simply stopping the madness. 

The bottom line is this: scaring your voters into mediocrity is a strategy that cannot last forever. There is a point where people will realise the trap and want to break free. This is why Labour are trying so hard to keep voters boxed into a political prison. Notice how they have been very quick to attack the Greens, almost as much as Reform. And Labour has resorted to the same kind of lowly insults as that of the right-wing media. A spelling mistake here, a clip of LibDem Polanski there. It is all performative, it has no substance other than to smear, and smear badly. Labour is infinitely more terrified of the Greens than Reform. They know if that the former triumphs, no one will be left to listen to their threats.

To connect with voters again, the left must reclaim its original mission and deliver it in a way that is genuinely empathetic

So how do we get out of this? Your Party, for all its troubles, got half the equation right. They recaptured the soul of the left on a platform of anti-austerity, nationalisation and truly ending the cost-of-living crisis. The Greens, under Polanski, followed suit and crafted a new face. Saving the leftist infighting for internal discussion, not public-facing spats, the Greens have stood behind a unifying message; we know it’s tough, we know it’s not enough, give us your hand, and we will break the very forces that led you here. It is simple, relatable, and has an appealing narrative like that of Reform’s. Yet behind it, there are no watered-down deals – only a concrete pledge to decisively change peoples’ lives for the better. 

And there’s your answer. To connect with voters again, the left must reclaim its original mission and deliver it in a way that is genuinely empathetic, with real, lasting solutions, not a mere variation of the neoliberal paradigm.