So having thought about it all for a day, I scrape up the following to make myself and other pro-European, left of centre types feel a bit better:
-- The party that saw the biggest percentage increase in vote was the Greens.-- The Conservatives gained just 1 percent more than last time in the vote. Hardly enough to suggest a huge endorsement.-- The BNP actually polled fewer votes in the two areas where it won seats than last time. It owes its success to Labour's collapse rather than a sudden right-wing frenzy among the English.-- Ditto to a certain extent for UKIP. It gained only 0.3 percent more of the vote. Its seats came from the Labour meltdown.-- The Liberal Democrats did get an extra seat (although their share was down and nowhere near what it needs to be for them to be a viable opposition).
But all this is grasping at straws, I admit. It was a night when ignorance about Europe, fear of immigration and anger at the government combined to boost the right and feed the country's eurosceptic neurosis.
A bad night for Britain.
"...It was a night when ignorance about Europe, fear of immigration and anger at the government combined to boost the right and feed the country's eurosceptic neurosis...."
ReplyDeleteI agree. On the 3 main factors.
ps. the night was not sad only for left of center pro-Europeans, center ones as well!
Well it's one point of view. It was not good certainly, but it is a myth promulgated by 'left-leaning' people that the BNP is 'right wing' when it is in reality 'far left' (read their manifesto) with a strong dose of 'authoritarianism' thrown in for good measure - and we've had an increasingly authoritarian government under Labour these past 12 years - do a Google search in my blog for "Police State Britain" and you'll see my views in tediously lengthy detail about Labour's dismantling of democracy since 1997. And they've messed up the economy again, just as they did the last time they were in power..
ReplyDeleteIt's no accident that the BNPs toe-hold on political representation (whether in local government or now in the EP) has come in traditionally Labour-voting parts of the country. Their ideas don't have much traction in places like Godalming or St George's Hill, if I can be facetious for a few seconds.
Having said all this, I do hope you'll continue and increase the frequency of your blogging; it's always good to be exposed to different ideas. Thanks for visiting my blog, too, and commenting there.