The sudden apparent collapse in support for Labour witnessed in Thursday’s elections was perhaps not unexpected. While long predicted, it has taken many years for multi-party politics to become a reality here. The main cause would appear to be our winner-takes-all voting system, whose demise should surely now be inevitable.
Last year it delivered a massive majority for a Labour party that won barely a third of the vote, as it has often delivered Tory majorities in the past. So, whatever its mistakes, Labour still has quite a bit of time to turn things around. Besides, with turnouts nearer to 30% rather than 40%, par for the course in local elections, talk of revolution might be a little premature.
