'Progressive Parties Must Start Working Together or Concede the Next General Election to the Nationalist Right'
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The great fragmentation of UK party politics unfolds before our eyes. It's been decades in the making as a system designed to create, embed and maintain a two-party system, finally succumbs to the fractured social, cultural and political reality all around it.
While this party-political rollercoaster will have many twists and turns, the eventual fractured destination means our political class must learn how to navigate and negotiate the complexities and nuances of a multi-party-political system.
Like 2019 to get Brexit done and in 2024 to kick the Conservatives out, this doesn't mean that majority governments are impossible if an issue temporarily galvanises enough of the electorate, but any subsequent parliamentary dominance is unlikely to translate into governing coherence. Because of underlying fractures, parties remain in office but not in power. Hence the chaos after 2019 and increasingly since 2024.
'Why Optimism of the Intellect Is Needed to Counter Britain's Spiral Into Despair'
From public support for progressive policies to the courage of Palestine Action defenders, signs of a better future are emerging despite Labour's authoritarian drift, argues Compass director Neal Lawson
Neal Lawson
Meanwhile, the country needs long-term investment and reform on every front; from education, health and housing, to transport and economic productivity.
No single party any longer has the political or electoral bandwidth to offer such long-term stability. Instead, it will have to be created not within a single political party but across several. A future that will have to be negotiated precisely because it cannot be imposed.
If we take the opinion polls since April, no party has the backing of more than 33% of the electorate, in many, five parties' poll over 10%, and in Scotland and Wales, the electorate face a choice of six parties. Support for Muslim independents further complicates the field, and all this before Your Party is properly out of the starting gate.
In all this, two clear left and right blocks are emerging, with the backing of roughly 50% of the population each. Both are divided. But the right has only two parties, the Conservatives and Reform, and considerable pressure is already building for a 'Unite the Right' strategy.
Remember that this doesn't need anything difficult and convoluted like a public pact, but merely the same backroom deal that Keir Starmer and Ed Davey struck before the last election, to stand candidates everywhere but only focus resource where their party can win. And recall that the right lost in 202 seats where they had a majority of the vote in 2024 but splitting it let the progressive candidate in.
'A Government That Crushes Dissent and Eliminates Hope Will Never Prosper'
The authoritarian impulse to eliminate disagreement and dampen hope will only push voters towards the extremes, argues Neal Lawson
Neal Lawson
But on the progressive side, things are now so much more complicated. Four parties could be contesting the progressive vote, with five in Scotland and Wales. But this isn't just a numbers game, but one of morality and values.
Back in 2017, when Theresa May enjoyed a huge poll lead over Jeremy Corbyn's Labour, Compass the organisation I'm the director of, instigated what we called a Progressive Alliance, a deal to unite the left and centre left vote to defeat the Conservatives.
It almost worked, not least because selfless Greens stood aside to ensure dozens of desperate Labour candidates won against the odds. But the Labour HQ in its arrogance, refused to stand aside for anyone and still does.
Greens understandably felt cheated and vowed not to repeat their generosity. But it's not just the culture of Labour which now blocks the prospects for cooperation, but the content. Because the charge now against Labour isn't just that it r...
Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
The great fragmentation of UK party politics unfolds before our eyes. It's been decades in the making as a system designed to create, embed and maintain a two-party system, finally succumbs to the fractured social, cultural and political reality all around it.
While this party-political rollercoaster will have many twists and turns, the eventual fractured destination means our political class must learn how to navigate and negotiate the complexities and nuances of a multi-party-political system.
Like 2019 to get Brexit done and in 2024 to kick the Conservatives out, this doesn't mean that majority governments are impossible if an issue temporarily galvanises enough of the electorate, but any subsequent parliamentary dominance is unlikely to translate into governing coherence. Because of underlying fractures, parties remain in office but not in power. Hence the chaos after 2019 and increasingly since 2024.
'Why Optimism of the Intellect Is Needed to Counter Britain's Spiral Into Despair'
From public support for progressive policies to the courage of Palestine Action defenders, signs of a better future are emerging despite Labour's authoritarian drift, argues Compass director Neal Lawson
Neal Lawson
Meanwhile, the country needs long-term investment and reform on every front; from education, health and housing, to transport and economic productivity.
No single party any longer has the political or electoral bandwidth to offer such long-term stability. Instead, it will have to be created not within a single political party but across several. A future that will have to be negotiated precisely because it cannot be imposed.
If we take the opinion polls since April, no party has the backing of more than 33% of the electorate, in many, five parties' poll over 10%, and in Scotland and Wales, the electorate face a choice of six parties. Support for Muslim independents further complicates the field, and all this before Your Party is properly out of the starting gate.
In all this, two clear left and right blocks are emerging, with the backing of roughly 50% of the population each. Both are divided. But the right has only two parties, the Conservatives and Reform, and considerable pressure is already building for a 'Unite the Right' strategy.
Remember that this doesn't need anything difficult and convoluted like a public pact, but merely the same backroom deal that Keir Starmer and Ed Davey struck before the last election, to stand candidates everywhere but only focus resource where their party can win. And recall that the right lost in 202 seats where they had a majority of the vote in 2024 but splitting it let the progressive candidate in.
'A Government That Crushes Dissent and Eliminates Hope Will Never Prosper'
The authoritarian impulse to eliminate disagreement and dampen hope will only push voters towards the extremes, argues Neal Lawson
Neal Lawson
But on the progressive side, things are now so much more complicated. Four parties could be contesting the progressive vote, with five in Scotland and Wales. But this isn't just a numbers game, but one of morality and values.
Back in 2017, when Theresa May enjoyed a huge poll lead over Jeremy Corbyn's Labour, Compass the organisation I'm the director of, instigated what we called a Progressive Alliance, a deal to unite the left and centre left vote to defeat the Conservatives.
It almost worked, not least because selfless Greens stood aside to ensure dozens of desperate Labour candidates won against the odds. But the Labour HQ in its arrogance, refused to stand aside for anyone and still does.
Greens understandably felt cheated and vowed not to repeat their generosity. But it's not just the culture of Labour which now blocks the prospects for cooperation, but the content. Because the charge now against Labour isn't just that it r...
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