A shortage of optimism
Renewal - ISSN 0968-5211
Volume 23 Number 1-2 (2015)
A shortage of optimism
Lewis Baston pages -
Abstract
Neither main party has a path to a stable parliamentary majority.
The article deals first with the fortunes of the Labour Party, and by extension the parties as a whole, during the period since the 2010 election, noting the relatively gradual changes that have taken place during the parliament leading to a surprisingly radical reconfiguration of the party system and the strategic opportunities for Labour and the other parties. It is unlikely that parties can form stable coalitions of support sufficient to win majorities of the sort that underpinned the Thatcher and Blair eras, and therefore probable that the politics of the 1970s – small majorities, frequent changes of government and heavy external constraints on policy – are more relevant to the current situation than the period between the consolidation of Thatcherism in 1982 and the financial crisis of 2008.
To cite this article
Lewis Baston (2015) A shortage of optimism, Renewal, 23(1-2 ), -