Polly Toynbee is right that there will be far worse to come for Labour if it carries on down its road of making the poorest yet poorer (The lesson for Labour? Until it can improve local lives and stop fearing Farage, more losses are coming, 6 May). She says: “They will be challenged by Reform UK in towns such as Barnsley.” Barnsley is the 38th most deprived local authority in England. Almost a quarter of its children live in poverty. Reform is a party with no poverty-alleviation policies and a “contract” with voters that states: “All job seekers and those fit to work must find employment within 4 months or accept a job after 2 offers. Otherwise, benefits are withdrawn.” That it has any cut‑through in Barnsley, for example, shows how little Labour has offered to such communities.
It is clear that Labour has no intention of addressing the core issues of poverty and the cost of living crisis, and that working-class communities desperately need a party that will put such issues at its core and fight for a redistribution of wealth. Why, anyway, do we assume that when Labour seeks to kick downwards over “small boats” that it is copying Nigel Farage rather than simply using immigration as a distraction from its own failings?
