Skip to main content
The new parochialism
A new politics of identity is emerging across Labour’s heartlands. We have to face it, writes SAM WHEELER
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage addresses a rally at the Rainton Meadows Arena, while on the European Election campaign trail in Durham

“From Preston Bolton Oldham and by Colne I’ve tramped the roads and never been alone” — Alan Bell

Last week Labour lost a by-election in Radcliffe, a small town in Greater Manchester. Long considered a solid seat, and delivering two-thirds of its votes for Labour just a couple of years ago, this would be a disappointment at any time.

Yet this was not just one of those council-level flukes that we see on occasion.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
CRUNCH TIME: (Left to right) Wales Green Party Leader Anthony Slaughter, Reform UK’s Dan Thomas, Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister Eluned Morgan and Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth
Features / 7 May 2026
7 May 2026

The election offers a critical chance to shape the future of pay, care and community provision in Wales, says Unison’s JESS TURNER

Jeremy Corbyn, with Zarah Sultana (not pictured) speaking at a discussion on Your Party, their new political party, at The World Transformed conference, at Niamos Radical Arts Centre in Hulme, Manchester. Picture date: Friday October 10, 2025
Your Party Conference 2025 / 28 November 2025
28 November 2025

With ‘Your Party’ holding its founding conference in Liverpool this weekend, JEREMY CORBYN speaks to Morning Star editor Ben Chacko about its potential, its priorities — and a few of its controversies too

ELECTORAL TURBULENCE: View from the tower of Old Town Hall in Prague. Photo: A Savin/Creative Commons
Praxis / 22 November 2025
22 November 2025

JOHN CALLOW examines what went wrong for the Czech communist party in the recent parliamentary elections, where it failed to meet the threshold to return deputies and some now talk of the party abandoning its commitment to socialism

barnes
Book Review / 14 August 2025
14 August 2025

JONATHAN TAYLOR attempts to disentangle the mind, self and political opinions of a successful bourgeois novelist