Jeremy Corbyn’s own rather desperate analysis of the election results was that Labour ‘hung on’, writes JAMES SLACK. This is just about true – but what will be the cost to the party’s long-term prospects as he staggers on for another year, knives protruding from both his front and back? The party’s share of the local vote was down around 6 percentage points on average compared to 2012, the last time these seats in England were contested, under the ultimately doomed leadership of Ed Miliband. Over the four decades since 1974, the average council election gain for an Opposition party in a year without a general election has been 434 seats. Yet Labour lost seats – more than 20 of them – in this week’s polls. ...read
JAMES SLACK: If this was a 'good night', then the Left's in a very dark place
07/05/16 01:45
