Leaving Labour?

I’m feeling so cynical about the Labour Party right now. Whenever I hear the words moderate or centrist in reference to Labour politicians, I just assume it’s a euphemism for self-serving careerist. Starmer’s lot has been pretty open about wanting to purge the party of the left, but then who tf is it for? I don’t understand the point of some Tory-lite version of the Labour Party. Trade unions and democratic socialists founded it to represent the interests of the working class. I’m not saying that being a privately educated Oxbridge Lawyer should exclude you from becoming the nation’s most influential champion of working-class people. Still, if I were Starmer, I’d be fighting extra hard to prove that I truly understand and represent the needs of the people I’m supposed to be championing.

That’s the problem; I’m just not feeling represented by him. I don’t trust him, and I don’t feel like it’s my party anymore.

Here are some things I expect from the Labour Party:

I expect them to vociferously fight for a free and functioning healthcare system for all.

I expect them to ensure that all working people are comprehensively protected and paid a liveable wage.

I expect policy that safeguards all people, but especially the most vulnerable in times of need and crisis.

I expect the labour party to write policy and legislate in favour of people over profit.

I expect tax policy that forces rapacious plutocrats to serve the people they profit from.

I expect an adequate and sustainable programme of affordable housing.

I expect a clear and urgent environmental strategy with the legislation to back it up.

I expect policy that strives to create a progressive and effective criminal justice system, taking an evidence-based person-centred approach that focuses on prevention and rehabilitation.

Y’know, common-sense left-wing shit that makes everyone’s lives better. Look, I know that Starmer’s Labour would be less corrupt and self-serving than the shower of mooching barnacles we have at the moment, but I’m so sick of voting for a party that’s marginally less damaging than the other guys. Johnson wants to introduce photo ID for voting, which would immediately exclude three and half million young and low-income voters. Scotland will eventually become independent, taking vast swathes of the left with it. The left has always been less coherent than the right. Our politics are more complex, there’s way more for us to disagree on. We’re pooling from disparate economic and social groups who are often passionate idealists whose values sometimes conflict. This morning I’m soaked in doomy feelings that right has won forever. I don’t mean Tory voters. Most of you guys are just self-harming. I mean these shady, morally vapid, bloodsuckers who couldn’t be more flagrant about their self-interest if they had it tattooed across their foreheads in comic sans. Could a left-leaning person ever run the labour party? Would they want to after the job that was done on Corbyn? Is it time to abandon ship? Where to? Isn’t that also pointless? Is it time to start sharpening my pitchfork? Could someone better informed than me tell me that there’s hope and that it’s all going to be okay, please? Bah!