Andy Beckett correctly concludes that there is political space to the left of the Labour party (Meet the groups trying to create a new leftwing party – and channel the energy missing from Starmer’s Labour, 15 November). The question is whether there is electoral space. He notes the succession of new leftwing parties over the past 30 years, a few of which had some short-lived success, though the history of splits on the left goes back more than a century.
Nor is disillusion with Labour in power a recent phenomenon. The Guardian’s own Richard Gott stood for the Radical Alliance in the 1966 North Hull byelection. This was a chance to make a significant impact in a Labour marginal, with increasing opposition to the Vietnam war and the Wilson government’s majority hanging by a thread. In the event, there was a major swing to Labour, Gott taking less than 1% of the vote.
