This Saturday will see the result announced of the second Labour leadership contest in two years. While Labour’s ongoing shambles is surreal, the implications are extremely serious and the outcome very bad for Britain, regardless of whether Jeremy Corbyn or Owen Smith wins.
A healthy democracy needs an opposition that can be a viable alternative government and a good opposition can ensure a government does not get complacent. Unfortunately, the shift of Labour to becoming a party of the far-left as opposed to being a party of the centre and centre-left under Tony Blair, means they are neither a viable alternative government or indeed a good opposition. You can actually map out Labour’s leftward travel as they went from Tony Blair, to Gordon Brown, to Ed Miliband and then to Jeremy Corbyn as leader.
Jeremy Corbyn is a known quantity but Owen Smith is not. I’d never heard of him before until he challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership, and it is very telling that the vast majority of his support is simply because he is not Jeremy Corbyn. This has meant that he has received very little scrutiny. This is concerning because this man could in theory be our next prime minister. From what I have seen of Owen Smith, I can safely say that I would not buy a used car from him. However, what concerns me more is that while Jeremy Corbyn is a threat to our national security, Owen Smith is actually a threat to our democracy itself.
For all his many faults, Jeremy Corbyn does at least believe in democracy and respects the outcome of the Brexit vote, whereas Owen Smith advocates blatantly ignoring the will of the British people and would not have us leave the EU. Owen Smith has also suggested that the UK joins the Euro and the Schengen no borders area. As I am a Conservative, you may ask why I am writing just about Labour. The answer is that the two truly terrible options Labour will be choosing between is a disaster for us all, not just for Labour.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
21st September 2016