Tribune leader, 15 May 1992
Several leading Labour
politicians have dismissed the party's dismal performance in last
week's local elections as a simple matter of Labour voters not bothering to
turn out so soon after the disappointment of the general election result.
There is some truth in this, and even more in the idea that
Labour Party members in many areas were too demoralised by the defeat and its
aftermath to campaign. But it would be wrong to blame the debacle of May 7
entirely on that of April 9.
In several of the councils where Labour did worst, it did
not deserve to do any better, simply on the basis of its dire record in office.
The best Labour councils are indeed shining examples of
efficiency and responsiveness but in many areas (much of the West Midlands, for
example) Labour local government is lacklustre and incompetent. In a few it is
simply corrupt and nepotistic.
This is nothing new. Ineffectual or rotten Labour councils
(most but not all of them Right-wing) have been a feature of British political
life for as long as anyone can remember, and for long periods local boss
politics was the rule rather than the exception in large swathes of the
country.
On the whole, Labour today has cleaner hands than for most
of the past 50 years, which says much for the party's capacity to renew itself
from the roots up. Since the early eighties, many of the worst old right
machines have been swept aside by party members sickened by the abuse of
council office.
There are, however, good reasons to wonder whether this
healthy process will continue in the future. Labour’s ability to renew itself
in local government has depended on there being a constant stream of vigorous
young people joining the party, getting worked up about the way the local
council operates and organising to get rid of the guilty men. That stream has
all but dried up in most places and, even where it hasn't, Labour parties are
finding it difficult to interest anyone in becoming a councillor now that the
powers of local government have been so drastically reduced by the Tories.
Unless Labour finds some way of attracting new blood,
Tammany Hall politics will become the norm again.
