Tim Roll-Pickering has a very interesting post about the Labour reaction to a shock local by-election loss in London. Rather than reflecting on how they might do better, senior London Labour figures instead talked of returning the Church Street seat to the “rightful owners”. Charming - so much for democracy!
It’s an attitude I recognise well from the Labour Party in Salford. Every time they lose a Council seat, they act as if the electorate have had a collective “voter moment” - of course they meant to vote Labour, it was just an accident that they put the cross in the other box, it won’t happen again, honest guv! This arrogance - taking local residents completely for granted - is one of the (many) reasons why the Labour Party in Salford keeps on losing seats and why their vote share is heading through the floor.
I won my seat from Labour in 2004. At my first Council Meeting, a senior Labour Councillor talked about Walkden South “temporarily” voting Conservative - the implication being at the next election local residents would see sense and vote Labour again. In 2006 I stumbled across the then Labour candidate canvassing and we overheard a colleague of his say “it’s in the bag”. He lost by nearly 500.
Conservative Councillors in Salford will never take the local community for granted like that.
I remember one case in Whalley Range a few years back when Labour had lost the seat to the Lib Dems. Both the Labour candidate and a prominent supporter wrote letters to the Evening News along the lines of “How dare you vote me out, after everything I’ve done for you…”
I think politicians of all colours need reminding sometimes of the need for a little humility - when the voters decide to vote for someone else then you should take it on the chin and exit stage left, I don’t think Salford Labour understand that…