08 May 2015

Election results 2015

It's fair to say that I'm very disappointed in the results of the election. I never thought I'd see the Conservatives do as well as they did, with an overall majority, albeit a small one, now projected.

Ed Miliband should step down and we need to have a long look at what went wrong. We did run a very good campaign, but it clearly wasn't good enough. Were we too left wing? Were we not left wing enough? Were we both? Was it the economy what swung it? Something that needs some serious focus grouping. We are facing serious challenges to our support from both the Greens and UKIP in England; I don't need to mention the SNP.

Small consolations were Galloway losing in Bradford West, Labour actually making a small gain on vote share from 2010 and our London performance. Also, the completely unexpected near total wipe-out of the Lib Dems.

David Cameron is in for possibly the next five years; it's entirely possible that he might get ousted before then, but don't count on it.

Instead, the left needs to focus on winning councils in 2016 (including London's Mayoralty) and use all our legal influence to mitigate the damage Tory policies will do to the disadvantaged in this country.

I'll do a fuller analysis in a couple of weeks once the dust has settled.

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