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| The Observer view on the future of the Independent Group | The Observer view on the future of the Independent Group |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| More than half of the UK electorate think the political system is broken. That’s according to a poll published by the charity Hope not Hate last week. Just under seven in 10 of those polled also said that they think none of the main political parties speaks for them. It’s not hard to imagine what’s motivating these sentiments. Parliament remains gridlocked on the most important question facing the country for decades. Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are plainly putting their party interest before the national interest on Brexit. Other issues that matter to people – school funding, how we care for older people – have been all but squeezed out of the debate. | More than half of the UK electorate think the political system is broken. That’s according to a poll published by the charity Hope not Hate last week. Just under seven in 10 of those polled also said that they think none of the main political parties speaks for them. It’s not hard to imagine what’s motivating these sentiments. Parliament remains gridlocked on the most important question facing the country for decades. Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are plainly putting their party interest before the national interest on Brexit. Other issues that matter to people – school funding, how we care for older people – have been all but squeezed out of the debate. |
| Could a new political party go some way towards fixing these problems? That’s the question facing 12 newly independent MPs who left the Labour and Conservative parties last week, 11 of whom have formed a loose grouping, the Independent Group. There was something refreshing about watching these MPs call time on their parties’ floundering leaderships. And there was much to agree with in their critiques. For Labour, by far the most serious charge is the leadership’s failure to respond adequately to the antisemitic abuse being committed by some of its members. It is damning and shocking to witness a Jewish Labour MP leaving a party with a proud anti-racist history because the disgusting abuse shows no signs of abating in 2019. Of course, Mr Corbyn’s failure to adopt a coherent position on Brexit was also a big factor for most of the departing MPs. | Could a new political party go some way towards fixing these problems? That’s the question facing 12 newly independent MPs who left the Labour and Conservative parties last week, 11 of whom have formed a loose grouping, the Independent Group. There was something refreshing about watching these MPs call time on their parties’ floundering leaderships. And there was much to agree with in their critiques. For Labour, by far the most serious charge is the leadership’s failure to respond adequately to the antisemitic abuse being committed by some of its members. It is damning and shocking to witness a Jewish Labour MP leaving a party with a proud anti-racist history because the disgusting abuse shows no signs of abating in 2019. Of course, Mr Corbyn’s failure to adopt a coherent position on Brexit was also a big factor for most of the departing MPs. |
| Labour seeks to stem antisemitism crisis after Ian Austin quits | Labour seeks to stem antisemitism crisis after Ian Austin quits |
| For the Conservatives, Mrs May rightly stands accused of running the country in hock to her party’s hard-right European Research Group and the socially conservative DUP. This has led her to pursue a hard Brexit and to keep the possibility of crashing out with no deal on the table, despite the lack of a parliamentary or popular majority for either of those things. | For the Conservatives, Mrs May rightly stands accused of running the country in hock to her party’s hard-right European Research Group and the socially conservative DUP. This has led her to pursue a hard Brexit and to keep the possibility of crashing out with no deal on the table, despite the lack of a parliamentary or popular majority for either of those things. |
| From a non-tribal vantage, who could look at how poorly two-party politics is serving us and fault these MPs for wanting to give something different a go? But the formation of this new grouping is not without its contradictions. The 11 MPs are firmly united in their opposition to Brexit and their desire for a referendum on Mrs May’s deal. But beyond this, it’s unclear what they stand for. Anna Soubry’s spirited defence of the “marvellous” coalition government of 2010 to 2015, despite the spending cuts and regressive tax changes it inflicted, is inconsistent with Heidi Allen’s criticism of this government’s dreadful welfare reforms. It was David Cameron and George Osborne who made a political decision that spending cuts were necessary and to load that burden disproportionately on to low-income families with children. The former Labour MPs, not unfairly, criticise Mr Corbyn’s domestic agenda as being too stuck in the socialism of the 1970s, but they do not yet have a constructive alternative to offer. | From a non-tribal vantage, who could look at how poorly two-party politics is serving us and fault these MPs for wanting to give something different a go? But the formation of this new grouping is not without its contradictions. The 11 MPs are firmly united in their opposition to Brexit and their desire for a referendum on Mrs May’s deal. But beyond this, it’s unclear what they stand for. Anna Soubry’s spirited defence of the “marvellous” coalition government of 2010 to 2015, despite the spending cuts and regressive tax changes it inflicted, is inconsistent with Heidi Allen’s criticism of this government’s dreadful welfare reforms. It was David Cameron and George Osborne who made a political decision that spending cuts were necessary and to load that burden disproportionately on to low-income families with children. The former Labour MPs, not unfairly, criticise Mr Corbyn’s domestic agenda as being too stuck in the socialism of the 1970s, but they do not yet have a constructive alternative to offer. |
| The 12 MPs are facing calls to trigger immediate byelections. The argument is that their constituents should be given the chance to endorse or reject their new status. But the arguments against weigh stronger still. The principle of representative democracy is that voters elect MPs to represent them in the best way they see fit until the next general election. There has never been a convention that defecting MPs should trigger a byelection – indeed, the vast majority historically have not – and nor should there be. Our two-party, majoritarian system is no longer representative of a fragmented electorate divided along more than one axis. Our first-past-the-post electoral system makes party realignment almost impossible even if there are significant shifts in the electorate. To set a precedent that all defecting MPs must trigger a byelection quashes any realignment before it has even begun, risking even greater public disaffection with politics. | The 12 MPs are facing calls to trigger immediate byelections. The argument is that their constituents should be given the chance to endorse or reject their new status. But the arguments against weigh stronger still. The principle of representative democracy is that voters elect MPs to represent them in the best way they see fit until the next general election. There has never been a convention that defecting MPs should trigger a byelection – indeed, the vast majority historically have not – and nor should there be. Our two-party, majoritarian system is no longer representative of a fragmented electorate divided along more than one axis. Our first-past-the-post electoral system makes party realignment almost impossible even if there are significant shifts in the electorate. To set a precedent that all defecting MPs must trigger a byelection quashes any realignment before it has even begun, risking even greater public disaffection with politics. |
| The odds are against them, but these MPs could yet change our politics | Jonathan Freedland | The odds are against them, but these MPs could yet change our politics | Jonathan Freedland |
| The medium-term prospects for this group do not look so rosy, but political power for smaller parties has never been predicated on being an ever-larger grouping in parliament. The SDP might have failed on its own electoral terms in the 1980s, but it helped to modernise the Labour party. Ukip has only ever had two MPs but has been a powerful political force at large, dragging the Tory party to the right. And all the signs are that this group is already having an impact. They have emboldened anti-Brexit voices within both parties; it looks more likely than ever that Mr Corbyn will be forced into backing a referendum on Mrs May’s deal in order to prevent further defections. Three cabinet ministers have warned they will vote to delay Brexit this week, to prevent crashing out without a deal. It is not inconceivable that this small group could help alter the course of Brexit history. In which case, job done. | The medium-term prospects for this group do not look so rosy, but political power for smaller parties has never been predicated on being an ever-larger grouping in parliament. The SDP might have failed on its own electoral terms in the 1980s, but it helped to modernise the Labour party. Ukip has only ever had two MPs but has been a powerful political force at large, dragging the Tory party to the right. And all the signs are that this group is already having an impact. They have emboldened anti-Brexit voices within both parties; it looks more likely than ever that Mr Corbyn will be forced into backing a referendum on Mrs May’s deal in order to prevent further defections. Three cabinet ministers have warned they will vote to delay Brexit this week, to prevent crashing out without a deal. It is not inconceivable that this small group could help alter the course of Brexit history. In which case, job done. |
| The response so far from the two main parties reveals the reality of today’s politics: two leaders who are primarily concerned with their own memberships rather swing voters. Mr Corbyn’s response to criticisms of the way he has dealt with antisemitic abuse came across as complacent and lacking in urgency. He denied that there is a problem with bullying in the party, disagreeing with his deputy, Tom Watson. While Mrs May’s response has been more gracious, she remains as stubborn as ever on keeping no deal on the table. | The response so far from the two main parties reveals the reality of today’s politics: two leaders who are primarily concerned with their own memberships rather swing voters. Mr Corbyn’s response to criticisms of the way he has dealt with antisemitic abuse came across as complacent and lacking in urgency. He denied that there is a problem with bullying in the party, disagreeing with his deputy, Tom Watson. While Mrs May’s response has been more gracious, she remains as stubborn as ever on keeping no deal on the table. |
| For now, the jury remains out on the Independent Group. But no one should criticise these MPs for following their consciences and calling out the failures of our two main parties. Good luck to them in trying to shake things up for the better. | For now, the jury remains out on the Independent Group. But no one should criticise these MPs for following their consciences and calling out the failures of our two main parties. Good luck to them in trying to shake things up for the better. |
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