Published in the Guardian

Saturday 24 February 2017

The only way the Tories will ever be defeated and the demise of Ukip ensured is for all the other Westminster parties to unite behind a programme of progressive economic nationalism. Steve Bannon (Report, 24 February) and Marine Le Pen have their fingers on the pulse of voters far more than most elected politicians in the UK. The latter still mostly beat the drum of free movement of people within the European Union and open borders to capital and goods.

In doing so they completely ignore the fact that it was rejecting these policies that got Donald Trump elected and sees Le Pen’s continuous rise in the polls. These shrewd campaigners responded to citizens’ desires, rather than those of big business and finance, not just for stricter immigration controls, but also for protection of domestic jobs. Trump and the Brexit referendum offered voters their first opportunity to reject inadequately controlled immigration and demand protection for local employment.

Were politicians from all opposition parties to embrace such policies it would make them more electable, and if they formed a progressive alliance to vote tactically at the next election, they could defeat the Tories and Ukip. Even the Lib Dems’ Vince Cable is on record as supporting controls on migration and capital flows. Had those who voted Lib Dem and Green in Copeland voted Labour, the Tories would have been defeated. It’s not the leaders who should be the centre of the inevitable political post mortems, it’s election-winning policies.
Colin Hines
East Twickenham, Middlesex