Jeremy Corbyn campaigning on the streets of Stoke-on-Trent with the Labour candidate, Gareth Snell, last week [Image: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images].

This is not about whether Labour is electable, after all – it is about attacking the socialist ideology of Jeremy Corbyn; persuading the people that neoliberalism and the destruction of their public services is the only answer to the UK’s problems.

It isn’t – it’s just a story bandied about by people who don’t want to lose the excessive money, power and privilege they have stolen over the last few decades, and it is the duty of the people of this country to reject it.

This Writer was at a local Labour Party branch meeting in Mid Wales yesterday evening, where we discussed possible outcomes in Stoke-on-Trent Central and Copeland.

Not even one party member thought we were going to lose either constituency. Not one.

The problems faced by campaigners working to get out the vote today (February 23) are the same problems Labour faces at every election – voter apathy and the weather.

Any perceived threat by the other parties simply doesn’t come into it. These by-elections will be won or lost on the basis of whether Labour supporters decide to come out and vote.

Concerns voiced by Jack Dromey about Stoke Central being a “three-way marginal” are just bet-hedging. Paul Nuttall has ruined his own chances and nobody has heard a peep out of Jack Brereton, the Tory offering.

But Dromey was certainly correct in this:

Dromey said the result would be a “defining moment” in the British political landscape, though turnout in the seat has been historically one of the lowest in the country. “It is a defining moment, it is Ukip breaking through in Labour’s heartland or it is the turning of the tide on Ukip,” he said.

“The backdrop is a raft of discontent felt by the people of Stoke. There is an attempt by the grotesque populism of Ukip to exploit that discontent, which they have no answer for.”

Just so. UKIP has no answer for the problems faced by the people of Stoke-on-Trent Central. It is a party that pushed people to vote for an aimless departure from the European Union, with no ideas about how this should happen or what would take its place. Why should anybody believe UKIP would have better ideas about governing the UK?

In Copeland, it is all about the weather:

In Copeland, Labour’s elections co-ordinator Andrew Gwynne MP said the geography and the weather forecast meant the party could have difficulties on election day. Storm Doris, which will bring heavy rain and gale-force winds, would make getting the vote out tough for activists.

“Labour support is there and our challenge is to get them out,” he said. “And it’s a big challenge, it’s a very isolated constituency. If we can get people to come out, we are in with a shout. That will be the difference.”

If voters come out – and they should – then Labour will win. And the naysayers will denounce the victories as “unconvincing” – because their livelihoods depend on it.

Source: Weather in Copeland, Tories in Stoke: Labour voices fears of failure | Politics | The Guardian

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