Since election day, the capitalist media has harped on about Starmer’s historic ‘landslide’. But the truth is that Labour received fewer votes than they did in the previous two elections.
The 9.7 million votes given to Starmer pale in comparison to the ‘unelectable’ Jeremy Corbyn’s 10.3 million in 2019 and 12.9 million in 2017.
With just 59.9 percent of the electorate voting, turnout was at its lowest in over 20 years. Taking this into account, only one in five people voted for Starmer’s Labour.
This is a damning indictment of the establishment as a whole. Workers and young people are sick to death of all the traditional parties.
The mood in society is palpable. One worker in East London told us: “My daughter works 9:00 to 17:30, and can barely afford rent, let alone food and bills. What is she supposed to do? Where’s her faith in this system? What does voting for Keir Starmer change in our lives?”
“I don’t believe in democracy anymore. Not that I don’t want it – it doesn’t exist!” one Balham worker told us. “I hated the Tories all my life. Now we hate Starmer more!”
This was the sentiment that we encountered every day whilst campaigning for revolutionary communist candidate Fiona Lali in Stratford & Bow.
One worker explained why they weren’t voting, saying that “politicians have never done anything for me”.
“I have been a Labour man my whole life but I cannot bring myself to vote for Keir Starmer,” said one local resident. “I either won’t vote or spoil my ballot.”
“I don’t know who to vote for, they’re all bastards,” said another.
A large number of votes for Labour were also lost amongst Asian and Muslim communities, who have been subject to racist attacks by the Labour leader, and are burning with anger at Labour’s support for Israel’s genocide.
One Bangladeshi man in Bow summed up the mood when he said: “Fuck Labour – I’m never voting for them in my life!”
Across the country, Labour majorities were drastically undermined, due both to low turnout and to insurgent left-wing independent candidates tapping into this mood of disgust and anger.
Starmer has barely had time to make himself comfortable in his new home at Number 10. But already, Britain’s latest PM is hated.
Despite the supposed strength of Starmer’s 174-seat majority, therefore, this is a government with instability baked into its foundations.
As Starmer continues with Tory policies – carrying out austerity, attacking the trade unions, and sending billions in arms to Israel – these cracks will only widen.
