THE NARROW Alliance victory at Brecon and Radnor predicatably resulted in Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley scapegoats. Both selected Arthur Scargill for this role. They have since been joined by two Welsh MPs, Allan Rogers and Ray Powell, who have said speech on the Monday before voting had affected Labour's result. What actually happened was rather different.
The Tory vote fell by 20 per cent. Undoubtedly, the most important factor in this fall was the effect of the miners' 12 month strike. It has wiped out the 'Falklands factor', and Lawson's planned tax cutting manoeuvres, and has put the Tories back to where they were before 1982 in terms of popularity.
Brecon election was not that the Tories were able to hang onto their vote. It was that the Alliance was able to pick up more of the disaffected Tory votes than was Labour.
The Alliance vote rose by Labour's by nine per cent. The Alliance picked up five times more former Tory votes than Labour. The issues that mattered to the voters of Brecon and Radnor were those that matter to millions: unemployment and cuts in the welfare state. Labour under Kinnock has no answers to these questions. Indeed far from providing an answer, the Labour leader Scargill who has fought for jobs. voting was a clear call for a Labour government Scargill's speech to defend those who had fought the Tories to guarantee jobs in munities. response Scargill's speech as 'fantasy'. With an approach like that little wonder that many voters did not see Labour as a positive alternative to the Tories and turned instead to the Alliance. said, in response to Kinnock, Labour's electoral chances have been improved because of the miners' strike, not despite it.
Kinnock could learn from ment that: 'Provided we adopt policies and stand firmly by them, we have nothing to fear from the electorate.' Instead of this Kinnock is more concerned to steal the Alliance clothes. The recent statements that mass unemployment would re main under Labour, the rejection of a clear commitment to renationalisation, wage controls, away from any clear alternative to the Tories.
Media gimmickry which is what Kinnock has to offer — will not be capable of eliminating the Alliance threat at the general election. The left in the party must reject Kinnock's attempt to isolate those who do begin to put forward the necessary alternative policies not only to Thatcher but also to Owen and Steel. Editor: ALAN FREEMAN Published weekly except two weeks in August and the last week of December. signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent socianst Acon s views, Inese ale ca pressed in editorials. send all correspondence regarding subscriptions, sales and receipts to Socialist Action Distribution, PO Box 50, London NI 2XP send ali material for publication (including advertisIng • to soelalsl Acuon daltorial at the same address. We regret that due to the high cost of postage we cannot return or acknowledge unsoncitea copy or photographs unless accompanied by a stamped adSocialist Action 19 July 1985 looking for that Scargill's The problem with the 11 per cent, concentrated on attacking Monday before