Mistrusted Mainstream Editorial, The Guardian Weekly, 19 Sep 14, p22 Contempt for Westminster The disconnection between supposedly mainstream parties and the electorate can be traced back many years. In just two general elections – between John Majors 1992 victory and Tony Blairs second win in 2001 – turnout crashed from 78% to 59%, a slide from fairly typical European participation to US disengagement. These were the years in which, jumping to the imperatives of an outmoded electoral system, ambitious young men in suits honed party messages to fit in with a sliver of swing voters in marginal seats, while forgetting about the rest. Today the suits have grown into fortysomethings, and taken command of their parties. Important differences in values separate Ed Milliband, Nick Clegg and David Cameron, but in the eyes of much of Scotland, and tracts of England and Wales too, they look and sound the same. There is a yearning for a different politics, where ideas are not aired in “lines to take”, and voters are bound into something beyond hollowed-out and mistrusted party machines. In England, the reactionary patriotism of Ukip is filling the void; in Scotland, which has not had the same immigration, a less exclusionary nationalism has benefited instead. Mistrust of Westminster reaches a convulsive pitch in passing scandals, such as the expenses meltdown in 2009. But the roots of disaffection go deeper. The institutions that nurtured distinctive political identities are atrophying. Trade unions, which have never found the language to address the halving of membership since the 1970s, are merely the most obvious example. With zero-hours contracts displacing jobs as they used to be known, and supposed self-employment substituting for employed posts, growing chunks of the labour force can no longer have anything they can call a regular workplace, nor the camaraderie that goes along with it. Civic life proved especially frail in the face of the recent recession, with a precipitate decline in volunteering heavily concentrated in poorer towns. With recovering national income failing to find its way into pay packets, what squeezed Britain needs more than anything else is serious new ideas on the economy. But even where these are forthcoming, they will not be heard if they emerge from parties that lack local presence and voices that can articulate voters pain. Open primaries to pick candidates of independent standing, as opposed to apparatchiks, could make a difference. Westminster politicians also need to learn a lesson from smart in Washington, and figure out how to rally anti-elitist sentiment to causes they care about. But where, when Rupert Murdoch was suggesting that a Scottish yes vote would bring the elite down a peg or two, were the unionists reminding voters just how central Mr Murdoch has been to Britains establishment for decades? Too many politicians have not merely forgotten how to articulate outrage: theyve forgotten how to feel it.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 12:21:35 +0000
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