A-Infos (en) UK, ACG, Jackdaw 26 - The May Elections and After (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The May council, mayoral, and Welsh and Scottish Parliamentary elections 
showed the shifting ground of British politics. The two main 
establishment parties, Labour and the Conservatives, were decimated in 
England and Wales, and many, well those who bothered to vote, did so 
against the attacks both had led against working conditions and living 
standards of the working class. This disgust was expressed in Wales and 
in Scotland with votes for the nationalist parties, which adopt centrist 
to left social democratic language. Labour lost almost 1500 council 
seats, in England, whilst the Tories, with a much reduced 1,300 seats, 
lost a further 600 seats.
However, the biggest benefactors were the hard right populists of 
Reform, who won roughly 30% of the council seats up for grabs, including 
14 councils. These included traditional Labour strongholds like 
Barnsley, Gateshead, and Sandwell. They came second after the Plaid 
Cymru nationalists in Wales and in Scotland grabbed 16% of the vote.
Farage and Reform are exploiting the anger felt by many with successive 
governments, and fanning the flames of racism in British society. Many 
were disgusted with the way the Starmer government carried on with 
austerity measures like previous Tory governments. The vote for Reform 
appears to be higher in the most deprived areas. On the other hand, some 
working class voters voted tactically to block Reform. This wasn't by 
any means a guaranteed vote for Labour, as the Greens won 500 
councillors, an increase of more than 400.
In fact, the Greens seem to be filling the vacuum of social-democracy 
relinquished by Labour, with increasingly left-sounding promises. The 
nationalists of Plaid Cymru and the SNP use similar rhetoric to gain 
working class votes. Zack Polanski referred to the Greens as the 
'workers party', and put forward a charter for workers.
However, like Green Parties in other parts of the world, and indeed with 
already sitting Green councillors and councils in the UK, the hopes of 
the Green Party posing a genuine alternative will soon be dashed. In 
over 40 councils they have helped implement cuts just like the rest. 
Where they now have wrested control, will they refuse to implement 
austerity measures?
Well, Polanski has said that councils have no choice in implementing 
cuts because it's due to the decisions of central government. No mention 
of local organising of workers and local people in alliance with 
intransigent councillors, or a cartel of councils pledging to refuse to 
implement cuts. This doesn't even enter his head!

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/jackdaw_low-res.pdf
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