Peter Hain’s pamphlet

Source: BBC NEWS | Wales | Wales ‘is leaving Labour behind’
Mr Hain spoke after Labour was battered at the elections on 1 May, losing overall control of six of the 22 Welsh councils and retaining an overall majority in just two.Labour performed worse in Wales than in England, where the party lost only three out of 137 councils. He is publishing a pamphlet arguing that Welsh Labour needs to face its failure and keep up with social changes, and told The Politics Show in Wales that two successive poor election results showed that “something in particular is afoot in Wales.”

“There are new estates, people don’t go down to the clubs any more, they drink at home, large workplaces don’t exist, unionisation in Wales is very low.”

He said Welsh Labour had always done better than in the rest of the UK, but it was now falling behind.Mr Hain said one reason was a lack of hard campaigning, particularly in heartland areas such as the valleys.

Comment
Yes, this may well be true but there are other equally valid reasons for Labour’s losses to do with complete loss of trust in Labour politicians such as Mr.Hain and in particular Mr.Brown (whose activities have been exposed and careers wrecked by political bloggers) . People are increasingly voting for local issues and local personalities whom they like regardless of their policies. This is reflected in the increases in the number of ‘independents’ and causing problems for not only Labour but Plaid Cymru as well.

Tags: peterhain, welsh politics