Not a great night for Labour

If early results prove to be representative of the national trend then tonight may not be as good for Labour as their spokespeople will suggest later today.

Of course it is good that votes have moved from the Lib Dems to Labour. This will come as no surprise whatsoever and should be welcomed. However, Labour’s failure to take control of Holyrood is devastating news and undoubtedly will demand the resignation of the leader of the Scottish labour Party.

In Wales, early signs are that Labour has done well and seems set for overall control of the Principality. Good news for Labour, but even here there has not been a huge swing and it remains touch and go as to whether an overall majority takes place.

In England the Tory vote seems to have largely held, although their Lib Dem partners are taking a severe bruising at the polls. Predictions indicate that if the English results were extrapolated into a General Election result it would mean Labour would have 340 seats (and an overall majority), Conservatives with 264 and the Lib Dems on 21.

All this indicates how Labour are failing to get their argument across effectively. Undoubtedly Lib Dem voters have switched, but most of these tend to be progressives and their discontent was already widely known. Tory voters on the other hand have remained faithful to their party and, in large part their vote has held.

In other words, Labour will need to do far more to convince Tory voters to switch to them when the General Election is called.

I have long argued that the Labour front bench need to up their game and Miliband must be more proactive in attacking Cameron at PMQs. Their rather wimpish style has proven to be ineffective and the vote today will be taken by the Tories as an affirmation that the majority remain content with the way the Tories are handling the economy.

As much as I hate admitting it, they are right. Labour has done too little to bring about a change of hearts and minds. Over the coming months they will need to do far more to bring Tory voters into the fold and guarantee a Labour victory. In particular, they will need to show Tory voters that Labour has an effective economic strategy that can address the deficit and that the party is capable of stabilising the economy and attract new industries and new business to this country.

In other words, before Labour start popping the champagne corks they need to look long and hard at the figures – if they are honest they will admit yesterday’s election has shown there is still a great deal more to do.

By-election dirty tricks: fake gay leaflets delivered in Muslim areas

The Leicester South by-election has turned dirty. A leaflet purporting to be from the Liberal Democrats and featuring a picture of two men kissing has been distributed in an Asian area of the city. The materials, which campaign organisers have confirmed as fake, are clearly an attempt to inflame anti-gay sentiment in the largely Muslim Spinney Hills area.

The leaflet features a version of the party’s equality policies as channelled by the Daily Mail. If the lack of an imprint (text required by electoral law) or contact details doesn’t raise suspicions, the text erroneously describe former Treasury Secretary David Laws and Simon Hughes as front benchers:

“We will force all schools to teach homosexuality as normal … Our front bench team Simon Hughes and David Laws are committed homosexuals, while Nick Clegg was recently voted by readers of Pink Times as the sexiest party leader.”

The operation to whip up anti-gay sentiment echoes a similar incident during the 2004 Leicester South by-election, which was won by now out-of-favour Liberal Democrat Parmjit Singh Gill. Liberal Democrat Party HQ responded by saying:

“Some of this leaflet is completely true and we are very proud of our record in championing gay rights. However, this a fake leaflet maliciously designed to incite hatred. It is disgusting attempt to provoke hate during the last days of a political campaign. It has no place in politics and it has no place in society.”

Now, I may not be a great fan of the Lib Dems, but this leaflet is a pretty tasteless example of how not to run politics. There can be no room in any election for attacks against any minority and the decent-thinking majority of voters should dismiss the contents of this leaflet as being the work of those opposed to true equality in this country.