3 hours ago
5
In the words of Alexei Sayle, “You can always rely on the left to turn up to a knife fight armed with a composite motion” (A historic opportunity for the British left is being thrown away. This very public Your Party row must stop now, 21 September).
The far right is in the ascendancy, the government is selling England by the pound, inequality is growing by the day while our public services are in crisis, and Your Party are arguing about process before they have announced a single policy. They launched the group in July, but can’t even come up with a name. This is not what the country needs. Nor does it bode well for the kind of campaign Your Party would run, or for how they would govern if elected.
The left needs its Zack Polanski, someone who is clear, concise and focused. While I believe Jeremy Corbyn is deeply principled and moral, he’s not a leader – and he doesn’t want to be. He is an appalling strategist and a worse tactician. If Zarah Sultana wants the job, Corbyn should let her get on with it. Decide on a name, decide on some policies, and let’s go – you can tweak the details later.
It is precisely this kind of internecine factionalism that has prevented the left from presenting a coherent alternative to neoliberalism.
After 45 years of unfettered neoliberal economic policies, including 15 years of so-called austerity, the stakes have never been higher. The country is hovering over the abyss, democracy is dying and huge swathes of the electorate are crying out for a genuine leftwing alternative.
Your Party could get 25 MPs at the next election without even trying, but they’re throwing away the opportunity through stupidity, solipsism and selfishness.
In the process, they are confirming the right’s perception that the left couldn’t organise the proverbial in a brewery. And this time, they will have a point.
Paul Cavaciuti
Ewell, Surrey
Yanis Varoufakis and Ken Loach are quite right to deplore the row over the founding of Your Party, but they must have been walking around with their eyes shut if they’ve failed to notice that the Green party has been offering much the same socialist agenda for at least the last 10 years, with the added benefit of recognising that there is no social justice without environmental justice.
It would save a lot of time and trouble if disaffected members of the Labour party checked out the Green party manifesto and thought about joining an established party with a dynamic new leader, steeply rising membership and four excellent MPs already in place.
Lorraine Du Feu
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
The idea for a new political party of the left is, contrary to the opinion of Yanis Varoufakis and Ken Loach, utterly terrifying to me. While Labour’s actions in government have disappointed lots of people, including its own voters, splitting the left even further virtually guarantees a victory for the Reform UK in 2029.
The right has two options – Conservative or Reform. The left has Labour, Greens, Lib Dems, and now Your Party. The more we split, the less likely we are to win under our current voting system.
I firmly believe the only way to defeat the right is to coalesce, and that may not be an ideal situation but it is all we have. Otherwise, Nigel Farage will be handed the keys to Downing Street and that is a danger that all of the left should be working together to fight.
Paul Walmsley
London
