South Ayrshire Council chief backs staff in wake of leader's "f*****g useless" rant
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The National
11 hours ago
- The National
One year under Labour and we still have a chaotic and cruel government
A YEAR ago today, the UK went to the polls in the Westminster general election in which millions were desperate to get rid of a chaotic and cruel Conservative government which was widely reviled and had lost all credibility. One year on and we still have a chaotic and cruel conservative government which is widely reviled and has lost all credibility. That's democracy, Westminster style. The Labour in name only government of Keir Starmer has relentlessly pursued the Tory line on Brexit, it has chosen to make the elderly, the poor and disabled pay for Tory mismanagement of the government's finances because making the super rich pay more in tax is too tough a choice for a Prime Minister who loves to boast about his willingness to take tough choices, choices which invariably entail bein tough on the vulnerable. We've had a continuation of uncritical British Government support for a genocidal Israeli Government which openly touts its wish to ethnically cleanse Gaza, slaughters tens of thousands of civilians and which is intensifying the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in open defiance of international law and human decency. READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn confirms launch of new party – read the full statement We have also had a continuation of the previous Tory government's increasing assault on the right to demonstrate and protest, which culminated this week in the grotesque decision to lump the direct action protest group Palestine Action in with violent extreme right neo-nazi organisation and proscribe it as a "terrorist organisation". Chucking red paint on Donald Trump's golf resort and on an RAF plane suspected of preparing to carry British military equipment to Israel where it would be used to further the genocide in Gaza are now deemed to be terrorist offences on a par with plotting suicide bombings. It makes a gross travesty of what these powers were originally intended for, the kind of overreach which the government vowed when framing these laws would never come to pass. Allowing the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation to stand not only makes a mockery of anti-terrorism legislation, it also represents an intolerable breach of civil liberties and the right to protest. It opens the door to the proscription as a supposedly terrorist organisation of any non-violent protest group which creates a public nuisance or inconvenience, which is essentially the entire point of protest. With this precedent, groups like the Suffragettes, the Aids and HIV awareness organisation Act Up, and hunt saboteur organisations, could all have been proscribed as "terrorists". If the proscription of Palestine Action is allowed to stand, climate change activists are likely to be next in line. Lawyers for Palestine Action have launched a legal bid to temporarily block the banning of the group as a terrorist organisation. The case is set to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on Friday, ahead of a potential legal challenge against the move. Even pro-Israel groups oppose the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. Mark Birbeck, of the pro-Israel Our Fight organisation, stood across the street from the Royal Courts of Justice in London with a small group holding a banner saying 'Stop the lies, there is no genocide in Gaza'. Birbeck said: 'We don't actually support proscribing Palestine Action. We don't think they are a terrorist organisation and in fact, our argument is that it makes a mockery of what terrorism is. 'It's bizarre that (the Government) is presenting this as some kind of aggressive step. 'My suspicion is that Palestine Action are going to run rings around them. 'These people know what they are doing. I don't agree with them, I don't agree with their politics, but they've been doing this for years. 'Our argument against Palestine Action though, is not that they are terrorists, but what we do believe they are doing is trying to claim the moral high ground and effectively they are doing that to isolate Israel.' Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, who was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour party for voting in support of an SNP motion calling for the abolition of the two child cap on benefits, has announced that she has left the Labour party to join Jeremy Corbyn's Independent Alliance. John McDonnell, the now independent, but former Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington and shadow chancellor for Labour under Corbyn from 2015 to 2020, said Labour needs to 'ask themselves' why someone like Zarah Sultana would choose to leave. Like Sultana McDonnell had the Labour whip removed for voting to abolish the two child benefit cap, but as a prominent member of the old Labour left with a high profile position under Corbyn, he remains persona non-grata with Starmer and his centre-right faction On Twitter, McDonnell wrote: "The people running Labour at the moment need to ask themselves why a young, articulate, talented, extremely dedicated socialist feels she now has no home in the Labour party and has to leave." Jeremy Corbyn has welcomed Sultana's decision, saying in a post on social media: 'Real change is coming. 'One year on from the election, this Labour Government has refused to deliver the change people expected and deserved. Poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable. Our country needs to change direction, now. 'Congratulations to Zarah Sultana on her principled decision to leave the Labour Party. I am delighted that she will help us build a real alternative. 'The democratic foundations of a new kind of political party will soon take shape. Discussions are ongoing - and I am excited to work alongside all communities to fight for the future people deserve. 'Together, we can create something that is desperately missing from our broken political system: hope.' It will be interesting to see if this new political grouping recognises Scotland's right to self-determination and will agree to facilitate a second Scottish independence referendum should the people of Scotland give yet another mandate for one. The victory of Zohran Mamdani in the recent New York Democrat primary and an opinion poll showing that a left-populist party would be the most popular choice amongst younger voters, picking up 32% of votes amongst 18 to 24 year olds hint that such a party could become a significant political force and the real antidote to the toxic politics of the populist right.
Daily Mirror
11 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
British beach horror as sunbathers scream in terror after terrifying 'bug swarm'
Crowds of beachgoers were captured screaming and running into the sea in a bid to escape the sudden insect invasion - with one claiming 'millions' of critters were 'all over us' A Blackpool beachgoer has told of sheer horror on the coast, claiming "everyone was attacked" during a trip to the seaside. Posting on TikTok, user Shab uploaded alarming footage of the chaotic scene, which showed dozens of people shrieking and fleeing in panic. "Everyone was attacked by flies in Blackpool, it was horrible," she wrote in a caption, before adding: "Millions of them [were] in the water and all over us." Her video also captured crowds running into the sea in a bid to escape the sudden insect invasion, as she declared: "There are swarms of bugs everywhere." The bizarre swarm echoes a similar event in 2022, when holidaymakers described a "biblical" plague of bugs in the same area, as reported by North Wales Live. Just last Easter, beaches including Blackpool North and nearby St Annes North were also flagged as two of 22 coastal UK spots where bathers were advised to avoid entering the water due to pollution concerns linked to sewage. The disturbing trend has since drawn criticism from local MP Chris Webb, who responded by saying: "It is shocking that the Conservative government yet again have allowed Blackpool beach to be hit by an avalanche of raw sewage over the Easter weekend. Blackpool Beach is a much-loved location for locals and holidaymakers and unbeknownst to those using the beach, their health has been put at risk because of the government's failure to act." Mr Webb added: "It should be the polluter, not the public or businesses paying the price. From day one, a Labour Government will take urgent action against water companies to bring an end to illegal sewage dumping, putting the public's health first." TikTok users responding to Shabs' video are highlighting the same problem, claiming sewage is rife on Blackpool's beach. One theorised: "Raw sewage [is] what you're walking in, my son caught dysentery from just paddling years ago at Blackpool." A second person claimed: "The water in Blackpool is so filthy with waste in it, I seen a bird drop its poop in the water and people were rubbing their faces with that same water." And a third added: "Its been on the news and reported [that] Blackpool water has sewage in it and to avoid it etc... I wouldn't dare step foot in that water." Despite people's speculation, there is no solid evidence the flies have been linked to sewage in the water. Many pointed out the "attack" could purely be a result of the common sandfly being in the area. One TikTok user noted: "Sandfly swarms are a recurring, natural phenomenon which can affect any UK beach. It has nothing to do with the state of the beach or if you believe the water is dirty. The state of the beach is down to visitors who constantly fail to clean up after themselves, not the locals." And a second concurred, commenting: "Sandflies, they're rife when the air show is on. We went a couple of years ago and it felt like the plague was back with a vengeance." A senior resident added: "I remember this happening to me and my family 65 years ago in Blackpool. Same beach. The flies came off the sand and my ice cream cone suddenly turned black. We all ran into a large seafront store. I was five or six-years old." Samples of water taken by the Environment Agency on Blackpool North beach in 2022, 2023 and 2024 were all deemed "poor" in their classification. The results of a sample taken on June 20, 2025 are yet to be finalised and published. John Blackledge, Blackpool Council Director of Community and Environmental Services, said: "It is unclear in the brief clip what wildlife may have been present at that time in what is a natural coastal environment. "We are proud of our beaches which so many people love and visit. In May of this year, Blackpool South, Blackpool Central, and Bispham beaches were recognised in the National Seaside Awards for their high standards of beach management, as well as their nearby facilities and water quality. "These prestigious awards are delivered through Keep Britain Tidy a leading environmental agency and testing of waters is carried out by the Environment Agency. The awards celebrate the quality of England's coastline including Blackpool's beaches and waters and are a symbol that visitors can find a clean, safe and well-managed coastal stretch."
Spectator
12 hours ago
- Spectator
Revealed: Morgan McSweeney's memo to the PM on how Labour could fail
In this week's cover story, I revealed details of a memo written by Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister's chief of staff, written in May last year, before the general election, which predicted exactly how Labour would struggle in power, because of its historical tendency to want to 'change the world', rather than focusing on re-election in the way Conservative governments do. Central to this uncanny act of clairvoyance was the insight that even a large majority (at the time the memo was written, possible but not certain) would not insulate Starmer from the tendency of Labour MPs to drift into activism and campaigning against their own government, something we saw in spades this week. Today, I can bring you the whole memo. It is notable for a number of reasons: McSweeney's shrewd analysis. There is a reason why he is regarded as an adroit strategist and that is why Starmer backed him last week against calls for 'regime change' in No. 10. The title of the memo was 'May 4th 2028' and it outlines a strategy to win a second general election after four years (rather than the full five-year term). I have had hints since that Starmer's team is already shifting its horizons to 2029 rather than 2028 but it is worth keeping this in mind when the Treasury outlines cuts or tax rises for the back end of this parliament – they may not have come into force before an election. At a time when it was not certain that Labour would win big, Starmer's chief strategist was openly speculating about far closer cooperation with the Liberal Democrats and inviting Sir Ed Davey in to collaborate. Again, if we are heading for a hung parliament in 2029, this is worth keeping at the back of our minds. McSweeney was quick to see that the next big battle for Labour would be against the 'populist right' in the form of Reform, and correct in identifying that Reform would begin to eclipse the Tories, as they have done since the new year. The memo outlines four ways in which the left loses to the populists – by being soft on net zero, immigration, by failing to deliver change voters can 'feel' and by becoming identified with a failed establishment. All four of these seem like pretty live issues/problems for Labour vis-à-vis Reform The memo outlines a blueprint for tackling Reform: levelling with the public, going on the attack, telling a coherent story with heroes and villains, and do not duck the key issues. This is precisely where many Labour people think Starmer is currently failing. Two caveats. My Downing Street sources say some of McSweeney's thinking has changed since he wrote the memo, so it shouldn't be assumed that Starmer is going to follow it to the letter now, but I know it was discussed in No. 10 last week as the PM tried to get things back on track. Secondly, while McSweeney wrote the first section himself, the material on elections around the world was commissioned by him but written by someone else, though he endorsed the conclusions. Nonetheless it represents a rare and valuable insight into the thinking of Team Starmer. Here is the full memo: From: Morgan McSweeney To: Keir Starmer May 4th 2028 – The Change Goes On Changing the world and retaining power The only task Labour finds harder than taking power from the Conservatives is keeping it. Few Labour Prime Ministers have ever secured two, full successive terms. Big Labour victories – 1945 and 1966 – have proved short lived. Today, swing voters are more volatile, less attached to any party and more willing to rapidly switch allegiance than ever before. If Labour wins after a heavy defeat in 2019, it will underscore that a big majority is no guarantee of victory at the subsequent election. When the Tories win power they always do so with the aim of retaining it. The decisions they take are always oriented towards winning the next election. When Labour wins we seek to change the world, to improve peoples' lives as fast as we can, but we ignore that really changing lives and setting the country on a new course takes more than one win. To successfully achieve our mission we must have a dual mindset of changing lives and retaining power. A big majority on July 4th will put even more pressure on the government to focus on the short term, to help people as much as possible as fast as possible, to lose discipline and definition. In 2028 the populist right will try to run a 1979 Tory campaign. Presenting us as continuity with the failures of the political establishment since the economic crash in the way that Thatcher presented Callaghan as the continuity with the Tory leadership of the 1970s and that same politics could fuel a strong return from the SNP. 5 tasks to win again. 1. Define the Mandate Change Britain for the better and every part of it better off. Our mandate is to make Britain better and every part of it better off. We should emphasise that our first steps are exactly that – they are the starting point not the summit of our ambitions. There is much work to be done to precisely understand what people believe they have elected a Labour government to do. Polling suggests that sorting out the NHS is the public's top priority, closing followed by stopping the boats and improving living standards. Median living standards have been stagnating since 2005—before the economic crash. GDP growth is necessary—too many people don't have a sufficient share of it—but people need to feel that they are better off. We need to get productivity and therefore wages to rise. That is easier said than done, but GDP does seem to be growing again and inflation is coming back to normal. There is also a tension with interest rates—the quickest way for people to feel better off will be for rates to fall…but a rise in GDP could mean that they stay higher for longer. We will need to manage expectations. PO [Paul Ovenden, the head of strategy] will oversee a bigger more extensive analysis post-election but we need a working definition now. 2. Tories / Reform Never again Our next fight will be with a more muscular populist right: it is more likely that the rump of the Tory party merges into Reform that vice-versa. But no matter how the populist right coalesces, our job will be to paint them as a continuity chaos or a return to it. A coalition of chaos that cannot be let loose of the public again. We should hammer them with the records of the extremists in their ranks. And they must be painted as a continuation of the politics that has left Britain on its knees. Populist Right politics leads to chaos, leads to short term thinking, chasing headlines, looking for attention. Chaos will always cost you more. Populist right politics will always present simple solutions – cut taxes fast, fly people off to Rwanda etc. The story must be told through its consequences on the country. We must define the problems in the country in a way that disqualifies the Populists from winning again. The problems the country has – low growth, high taxes, falling living standards, rising bills, high waiting lists, crumbling public services and open boards- Beware the politician with simple ideas. In this election campaign, our central message has been that Keir has been able to change the party so he will be able to change the country. It is encapsulated by the single-word campaign message 'Change'. But this story has stuck in people's minds precisely because we were able to define a villain: Jeremy Corbyn and the left that corrupted the party by putting it in the service of its members and supporters, not of working people. Keir has been the one to confront that culture within the party, to take them on and win. We must approach every action in government with clarity about who is the villain: who is responsible for getting us into this situation? And how are we taking them on to turn things around. The answer to this, at first, is easy: the Tories are the villains. Our audits will lay bare the damage that they have done to our economy, society and public services. We should not lose sight of the outrageous behaviour that characterised their time in office. This is no time for magnanimity. This is the time for accountability. And we should make sure that we hold them individually as well as collectively accountable for their actions. Every Minister, MP or Adviser who referred their friends or associates into the 'VIP Lane' for Covid contracts should face investigation, but it cannot just be about the 'what' it must also be about they 'why'. 3. Keir Starmer – Your force for change A government with a colossal majority is no more able to govern than one with an ordinary working majority, and may, in fact, face more challenges not less. On our own side, there will be pressure to adopt causes that are popular with our own supporters and to lose focus on the electorate. There will be hundreds of MPs with rather a lot of time on their hands who may start to behave like super activists or campaigners, rather than parliamentarians. And our internal critics will surely make the argument 'you had the power to do anything—and this is all you achieved…' as if the size of the majority somehow directly correlates to solving complex and long-term policy problems. It will, therefore, be important to maintain discipline within our own ranks. Keir should be positioned as unlike ordinary politicians—rather than the typical politician who makes all sorts of promises and then breaks them, Keir should do the opposite. He should consistently under promise and over deliver. This can become powerful because it means that when Keir speaks people will be more inclined to listen. At the same time, Keir should be positioned as the force for change in the country. A cast-iron approach to 'what gets said gets done' should be combined with storytelling around Keir's priority to put the Party, and therefore the British state, in the service of working people. Keir must be associated with big inward investment deals, projects getting shovels in the ground on projects. KS is the dealmaker, the builder and the challenger. We should use the full power of the government machine to do this. This will also mean putting people who are aligned with our mission into the key institutions of the state. The Tories have spent 14 years rewarding their donor and friends with jobs in public institutions; we should not do the same. But we should clear out the beneficiaries of nepotism and appoint capable people who share our ambitions for the country. We will need a steady drum beat of announcements from central government that reinforce this narrative and occupy political space. Finally, a key message should be that Keir is making Britain 'respected abroad' again. We should think about what international visits would cement this reputation—in Europe, the United States, and beyond. 4. Energising the party and keeping it mobilised We need to mobilise the party to the same cause as the government: to be in the service of working people. We could begin by asking all backbenchers to spend the summer in a major listening exercise where they go out and meet people in their communities and in public services and listen to the difficulties that they face. We could create a programme that would enable them to feedback these stories to Keir and to the Cabinet. It would create activities for our MPs and it would offer a means to cement in the public's mind just how bad things have become and lead both their constituents and local parties on our agenda for economic reform. As well as listening, we need to make sure that we deliver on the causes that are most precious to our members and supporters as well as to the country. The three issues that are most salient for our base are child poverty, climate breakdown, and services and benefits for society's most vulnerable. We should make sure that vulnerable groups are systematically examined in the audits of public services. We could follow up on the audits by asking a leading figure to look at reforms to help society's most vulnerable. Child poverty must come down under a Labour Government and we need a visible strategy to cut it. 5. Brining the country together Large parts of the country will feel disenfranchised by this election. It's possible that Reform gets twice as many votes as the Lib Dems but that the latter have 10 times as many seats. We know that younger voters and many Muslim voters will have supported candidates and parties that will have no representation in parliament whatsoever. This provides fertile ground for populists of left and right to try to delegitimise a Labour government from day one. We need a clear strategy to engage with alienated voters. There are some obvious things that we can do – such as visibly governing in closer partnership with Scotland and Wales and making sure that the Government is a visible presence in their politics. A more radical approach would be to welcome Ed Davey to Downing Street in the early days of a new administration. If we have a large majority, there will certainly be pushback from within the party. But the benefits could be considerable: it will show our intentions to work with others and a different tone and style of politics. [The following section was commissioned by McSweeney but not written by him] Lessons from around the world Four ways centre-left governments make themselves vulnerable to the populist right 1. They underweight the costs of net zero, so populists become defenders of working people. The transition to net zero is this century's greatest economic transformation. Countries that seize this opportunity will secure significant economic benefits which will, in the long run, significantly outweigh costs. But there are big costs, especially in the short term. Many changes to decarbonise homes (heat pumps, retrofits, electric vehicles) are currently unaffordable and disruptive for households to adopt. In Germany, Olaf Scholz's government nearly fell apart as voters reacted angrily to the idea of having to ditch boilers as part of a ban on new oil and gas heating systems from 2024. The far-right AfD complained of an 'eco-dictatorship', and the popularity of Scholz's government tanked. It has not recovered and the policy has been watered down. Without an approach led by political strategy, the populist right can position itself as being on the side of working people, against a government captured by the moral imperative to decarbonise. A small group of voters, who live largely in safe Labour seats, feel climate change is a key issue, and an equally small group, on the right of the Tory coalition, are fully-fledged deniers. Most, and particularly swing voters, take a nuanced view. They think climate change is real, but working people should not be forced to pay to solve the problem, and that the government should focus on issues that more immediately affect them.1 We must constantly focus policy and argument on 'energy security' (reducing dependence on hostile foreign nations), the cost of living (jobs and reducing bills), and the local environment (nature, water, green spaces). 2. They look reluctant to act on migration, ceding 'control over borders' to populists. Biden pledged to reverse most Trump-era policies on immigration. On his first day in office, he paused nearly all deportations, and vowed to show compassion to those entering the United States while securing the southern border. He wanted to demonstrate that the US was humane and that government could work. Instead, he has found himself on the defensive. Many voters say immigration is their top concern and most do not have confidence in Biden to address it. Biden's approach has failed even on its own terms: the humanitarian crisis on the border and in major US cities is worse than ever, as Democrat Mayors have highlighted. With an eye to the next election, Biden has adopted a tougher posture, calling for stricter enforcement at the border. But it looks inauthentic, and as a result, is not working. Voters sense, correctly, that Biden's first instinct was to adopt a compassionate approach to migrants, not to secure America's borders. His conversion to tougher action looks cynical – something he has been forced to do because of public pressure, not because he really believes it. We must be tough from the start. The first things we do on migration must be about getting control over our borders, smashing the gangs, and tackling small boats. We must earn the trust to address more fundamental challenges: Home Office reform, or more boldly, reframing legal migration as a matter of industrial strategy by moving legal migration out of the Home Office and into the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). What we say and do must constantly underscore the argument that the Tories lost control of our borders, and we are taking it back. 3. They become defenders of the system, allowing populists to be seen as agents of change – in style as well as substance. In Germany, Scholz deliberately styled himself as the incumbent. He wanted to be a symbol of continuity with Angela Merkel (in whose coalition he served). He was even photographed making Merkel's hallmark diamond-shaped hand gesture. But, however popular Merkel was when she was in office, voters didn't want continuity, they wanted change. In practice, this narrowed the political space for Scholz to argue that the system is broken, ceding this territory to the AfD. This is also about the stylistic element of politics. Some on the centre-left have responded to the headline-grabbing shock-and-awe of populists by rising above the fray and refusing to engage. This was how Joe Biden began his presidency, instructing the Justice Department to be slow in prosecuting Donald Trump for the insurrection, and ignoring the populist right. This proved impossible and ineffective. When Biden came out fighting, such this year's State of the Union, it bolstered support. We must be insurgents from the outset. In terms of substance, voters understand perfectly well that the British state is broken and in need of radical reform: Whitehall, delivery, public services, the responsibilities and powers of devolved governments, combined authorities, and local government. We need to be impatient, ceaseless reformers. Careful and precise in what fights we chose and why, but as soon as we look like we are defending the status quo of our politics and government, when voters know it does not work, we risk ceding the ground to the populist right. We cannot vacate the terrain of showing voters we are listening to and fighting for them. We need streetfighters who communicate clearly, understand delivery, and can be deployed as outriders. This requires an energetic, pugnacious and courageous communication style, a willingness to take risks and have the argument, not shirk it. It also requires effective engagement with new, fragmented media beyond mainstream outlets and savvy use of social media. 4. They deliver change that working people cannot see or feel. For governments to rebuild trust with working people, they must address visible problems and focus policy on their experience. In the United States, the Infrastructure Act, CHIPS Act, and Inflation Reduction Act represent the most significant legislative achievement of a US President in decades. But they aim at structural transformation, whose long-term benefits are relatively intangible in the short term. Labour has made a clear argument about the need to focus on the long-term and end sticking plaster politics. This is right and vital in managing the public's expectations. However, voters must also experience improvements in their material and physical environments. They want tangible things that make a difference: better pay and lower bills, safer streets and cleaner parks, better roads with fewer potholes, a doctor or dentist they can see when they need one. Politics starts with the local, on people's streets and local areas, so we must focus on the things that people see and feel in their own lives. The closer we get to the next election, the more important those will become. That requires a constant balancing between governing for the long-term, to demonstrate we will not duck hard decisions like the Tories, without neglecting the political imperative for short-term wins. Four ways centre-left governments beat the populist right 1. Level with the public with an honesty that takes people off guard. Working people understand that in politics, as in life, there are few quick or easy wins. They do not expect to be mollycoddled. They want to be treated with honesty and respect. There is much greater appetite for hearing hard-truths than politicians often suppose. Hard truth's should be at the core of Labour's message. The country is in a terrible mess. Labour must keep making a virtue of the fact it will not lie to voters or make promises it can't keep, and that it will be slow and painful to drag ourselves out of this mess. But Labour has a plan, and things will slowly get better. When we're inevitably attacked because things aren't improving fast enough, we must call out gimmicks and point out that gimmicks got us into this mess in the first place. 2. Tell our own story of us-versus-them. Most voters think all politicians are the same: 'them' not 'us'. Centre-left governments need their own version of this story: the 'us' is the working people of Britain and their Labour government prepared to tell hard truths and do hard yards to tackle big problems. The 'them' are dishonest Tory con merchants and clowns who got the country into this mess – with lies and broken promises – and even profited from it. They are the villains of this story and working people are the heroes. We must constantly demonstrate that a Labour government serves working people. This will be difficult. Politicians must tell stories and deliver arguments that focus on experience. We cannot settle for abstract, structural logic against the populist right's more concrete, linear reasoning. For instance, on immigration, instead of explaining the complexity of the problem or reducing it to economics, we must own the language of control, jobs, and houses. 3. Always be on the offensive. Attacking your opponents matters as much in government as in an election campaign or opposition. Done well, it enables you to define – and toxify – your opponents before they define themselves. After the election, the Conservatives will find themselves in a painful and prolonged debate, in which its relationship with Farage, probably as an MP, will become existential. While they are distracted, Labour quickly cement their culpability for Britain's ills in voters' minds. This is what the Conservatives did in the summer of 2010. While Labour was debating its future, the Conservatives ruthlessly and relentlessly pinned the blame for the financial crisis on Labour. The starting point must be to endorse the depth of the disillusionment, even rage, many feel. Voters aren't wrong to believe that politics has stopped serving working people. It has. Worse, it has started to serve itself. In the most egregious cases, politicians have used their office to enrich themselves and their friends. Voters have been let down by their leaders. The system has been rigged against working people. The people who did that are the Conservatives. In government, we must continue to be streetfighters in communication and campaigning, putting our opponents on the defensive. 4. Visibly occupy the issues that populists want to exploit. Populists draw strength from promoting ideas that have been insufficiently addressed by the current government. Attacking populists for talking about these issues or seeking to move the debate onto other matters plays into their hands. Voters see it as avoiding or downplaying their concerns. So Labour must visibly and proactively own the debate on issues the populist right seeks to exploit. Not as issues to be managed for narrow political reasons, but as core parts of Labour's own governing agenda. Tackling migration is not a defensive play Labour tactically deploys when under pressure, but a continual and core element of its programme, which Labour is proud to advance because it wants to make life better for working people. This means keeping Labour's governing programme disciplined and focused on voters' priorities. It also means always running a forward-looking agenda, offering an optimistic – but realistic – vision of a better future for working people.
