Labour Need More Than Hot Air To Burst Bojo's Balloon

While much of our focus has been on the election results north of the Border, it’s what’s going on south of Gretna Green which is truly fascinating.

- Darren McGarvey

The ascendant narrative there is that the rundown towns and rural areas George Orwell wrote about 80 years ago (which are still rundown) are populated by “uneducated” plebs, largely motivated by their blind and petty patriotism, xenophobia, and a deep collective desire to engage in acts of mass economic self-harm.

This, for some, explains why they would vote Tory. Labour’s trouncing, apparently, was merely a matter of Red Wallers’ deep confusion.

It had nothing to do with these post-industrial communities being taken for granted by Labour and the left to fall into decline.

Nothing to do with post-industrial towns being used for years as testing grounds for up-and-coming political talent (like Peter Mandelson and David Miliband) before being parachuted into big jobs in London.