You are here: Home » News »

State of the Party survey – March 2012

April 4, 2012 7:18 pm

Tags:

Share this Article

It’s that time of the month when we conduct our “State of the Party” survey – the number one monthly barometer of how Labour people feel about their party.

Make your voice heard, and vote on how your party is performing.

This month we particularly want to know:

Why do you think Labour lost in Bradford West?

and

How did you rate Labour’s response to the budget?

How’s Ed doing? And who do you rate in the shadow cabinet?

It’s your party, don’t miss the chance to have your say.

Related posts:

  1. State of the Party survey – March 2011
  2. State of the Party survey – January 2012
  3. State of the Party survey – February 2012
  4. Vote in our October “State of the Party” survey
  5. Vote in our latest State of the Party survey
  • Chris Atkins

    Labour has been totally absorbed into the Westminster circus and is distrusted and villified as much as the other two main parties.  All politicians are totally out of touch and have forgotten that they  are no more than elected representatives of the peoples(except of course no party was actually elected at the last election).  I applaud what is happening with Occupy around the world – it’s time ordinary working people took back their right to be represented rather than to be manipulated and exploited by those who believe they have a God given right to be members of a tiny, privileged ruling class.  Labour has rendered itself totally unelectable as it presents no alternative to the other parties and will remain in the wilderness as long as Plasticine Man and his cronies at the helm.  I say this as a lifetime Labour voter who will vote Independent at the next election.

    • James3010

      what exactly is a lifetime labour voter? i ask not to mock because i do not know. The labour party i see (and i am not a member of it or any other nor have ever been or will be) is or has become the party of both “we are the natural party of govt” and “the client state”.
      Take a deep breathe and for a moment step back but look at those areas of the nation which are strongly pro Lab and vice versa. In almost all areas where Lab is strong they are areas where daily life depends on either benefits or a public sector job be it the north east or hastings in both cases the state. That is niether good the democracy in general or the party of the “working man”. Those who utter Lab needs to rediscover its socialist roots are correct in part but before Labour finds that it needs to remember it is supposed to be the party of the working people, you know the ones who actually contribute tax that pay for all the goodies and the core vote it has tried so hard to create.

      • Duncan

         Could we please refrain from this bizarre notion that public sector workers a) are not workers and b) don’t pay taxes.  They are; they do.

  • Chris Atkins

    And seriously, you’ve got a Sky advert on your survey page – are you so out of touch with public opinion re the stories of sleaze and corruption perpetuated by and between the politicians, police, media, corporations and all the other greedy and corrupt bodies who ru(i)n the lives of ordinary people???? 

  • Fizzipus

    I was horribly disappointed with Harriet Harman when she came on the Andrew Marr show and said that Bradford West was very untypical and what had happened there was a one-off event. I don’t know whether she actually believed that. But by saying it she showed that the Labour leadership is sticking with the Blairite strategy of wooing the “squeezed middle”. Will somebody please explain to Ed Miliband that this strategy was sickening when it did work, allowing a group  of self-interested, mostly well off people with no political ideas or principles to exert a very disproportionate influence on the political strategies of two (if not three) political parties. (David Cameron came to be leader of the Conservatives because they were copying Blair’s strategy of ignore your core support and suck up to the people who weren’t going to vote for you. ) The message that should be heard from Bradford West is 1. Candidates who are overtly, even stridently, left wing CAN get elected. (This may not be the case in the Home Counties, but aren’t other bits of the UK equally important?) and 2. Even Labour supporters (who are unquestionably the most loyal political group in the UK ) will not vote forever for a leadership which ignores them. In short, aiming for the middle is a dead duck as a political strategy. The party which succeeds at the next election will be the one which gets back to its roots and gets its core voters out. If the Labour leadership does not know what its core voters want maybe it should ask George Galloway. (That is a little unfair because like the Lib Dems he was unhampered by any realistic concerns about what would actually be possible should he be called upon to form a government.)

    • mikestallard

      This is a super post. The question is actually one of geography, not philosophy.
      On the Web we get thoughtful comments like the one above.On the TV we get smarm and Emily Maitland.On the News we get kitsch.In the papers we get the comment which we pay for and news which we are already familiar with.On the streets we get manic street preachers.In the local paper we get the Primary School Easter Pageant.It is all still there. But in a different place.

  • AlanGiles

    March: EM ducking out of a meeting and rally about the NHS pleading illness, so he can attend football. EM,  Balls and Rachel Reeves smirking in Greggs. Liam Byrne not QUITE having the guts to resign from the shadow cabinet to persue a career as a Mayor (he didn’t say yes, he didn’t say no – he didn’t say stay and he didn’t say go).

    A month best forgotten I should say.

  • Duncan

    I suspect you’ll get a lot of “other” for the Bradford West question as none of the suggested causes are particularly convincing.

Latest

  • Comment The culture of high risk credit is being exploited by betting shops

    The culture of high risk credit is being exploited by betting shops

    By Matthew Zarb-Cousin

    Since the financial crisis, the perfect storm of recession and banks restricting access to credit has led to the rise of payday lenders. Our high streets are slowly deteriorating from the vibrant, diverse places they once were into an abyss of pawnbrokers, payday loan shops and bookies. The three feed off of each other, targeting some of our most deprived areas and perpetuating a cycle of despair driven by the need for extra income. Research carried out by Geofutures found [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Should people be asked if they are party supporters when they register to vote?

    Should people be asked if they are party supporters when they register to vote?

    Chris Clark and Rav Seeruthun on a small change that if adopted, would free activists to spend more time on community work Every year at party conferences we hear professional politicians eulogise hard-working party volunteers. And there’s no activity more often evoked than that of ‘knocking on doors’. It’s a common delusion that the purpose of doorstep canvassing is to ‘persuade’ voters. Having taken part in our fair share of Labour canvassing sessions, we’ve both had the dispiriting experience of [...]

    Read more →
  • Europe Featured You can always rely on the Conservatives to ignore the public when it comes to Europe

    You can always rely on the Conservatives to ignore the public when it comes to Europe

    By Douglas Alexander

    Europe is not often the issue which comes top of people’s concerns on the doorstep. Nor do opinion polls suggest that Europe is a priority for voters when compared to issues like the economy or jobs. But you can always rely on the Conservatives to ignore the public when it comes to Europe. This week saw over a hundred Conservative MPs rebel and vote against their own Queens Speech. They were angry that it hadn’t included a bill which would [...]

    Read more →
  • News Seats and Selections Vicky Foxcroft selected as Labour’s PPC for Lewisham Deptford

    Vicky Foxcroft selected as Labour’s PPC for Lewisham Deptford

    Vicky Foxcroft has been selected by Lewisham Deptford CLP as the party’s candidate for 2015 at a selection meeting this afternoon. Here’s a brief biography: Vicky grew up in the North West in a single parent household, and was the first person in her family to go to university. She has held many positions in the party including Chair of Labour Students, has sat on the National Policy Forum and is currently a local councillor and is Chair of Lewisham [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Labour’s future schools policy: why accountability matters

    Labour’s future schools policy: why accountability matters

    By Mike Ion

    Stephen Twigg, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary is one of the more thoughtful and pragmatic individuals to hold this vitally important brief for some time. To his credit Stephen has been out and about these past two years listening to pupils, teachers, parents and governors and finding out more about the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis. In addition Stephen has been looking closely at some local, regional, national and international programmes that have had a demonstrable impact in raising [...]

    Read more →