War and Broken Britain

The broken nature of Britain and British politics continues to unfold as large groups of people operate in mutual incomprehension. Talk of conscription is being openly discussed by some – even as the memory of the polls suggests collapsing belief in the very idea of Britain fades (Gen Z and the Death of Britain). A reminder then for those suffering instant amnesia in among the 24 hour news cycle that only a week ago a poll by The Times found that “Half of Generation Z think that Britain is a racist country and only a tenth would risk their lives to defend it in a war.”

This seems to have been conveniently forgotten in the rush for war, arms and soldiers.

Now it seems we’re going to pay for all this war by a) cancelling our overseas aid programme, just like the big orange fella did and b) filleting the welfare programme starting with disability benefits. Something calling itself the ‘Get Britain Working Group’ (which includes five Scottish MPS) have endorsed the plans, which they lay out with some enthusiasm here:

Maybe this will play well to some on the far-right, and maybe Labour are cynically trying to steal those votes, but in many places that conduct is a political suicide note. It is understood Chancellor Rachel Reeves plans to save several billion pounds by making austerity cuts to the welfare budget with health-related benefits being targeted.

Signatories to the Get Britain Working group include the MP for Dunfermline and Dollar Graeme Downie, East Renfrewshire’s Blair McDougall, Coatbridge and Bellshill MP Frank McNally, Livingston MP Gregor Poynton and East Kilbride and Strathaven MP Joani Reid.

Now we are seeing a repeat of what happened under Tony Blair’s disastrous Iraq War, where young people abandoned the Labour Party in droves and a generation turned to the idea of Scottish independence as a radical alternative. History is repeating itself as Labour’s disgraceful policies towards support for Israel are now matched by domestic social policy that mimics and in some cases surpasses Tory cruelty. The significance of the disenchantment and disaffection this is producing is largely missed by a siloed and smug commentariat employed by the mainstream media.

The war on the most vulnerable in society will not be forgotten by those who are asked, or even demanded to take up arms for ‘their country’ (sic). Starmer was Britain’s last chance and he’s blown it.

Now, we have the perverse spectacle of people like John McTernan, who has figured out that Labour now need its left for electoral support and political cover. Writing in The Telegraph he notes, displaying equal measures of cynicism and stupidity (‘Look out for a Reform of the Left. It could finally shatter British politics‘):

“A plane, as the saying goes, needs two wings – so do parties of the centre Left. The intellectual energy and the idealism of the broader Left have always been central. Every successful Labour government – and every Labour landslide – has drawn from its Left.”

“The ruthlessly efficient vote distribution from 2024 can’t be reconstructed at the time of the next election in 2028 or 2029. A new majority needs to be constructed firmly based on a platform that draws together the strands of the Left by drawing on their ideas.”

Speaking explicitly for the benefits of a war economy he writes: “This is not to say that the ideas of any other party should be adopted wholesale – the art of politics, and governing, is in the trade-offs. The cuts in overseas aid to fund defence spending will put many voters in Bristol Central offside, but the growth in work for BAE Systems will bring prosperity to the Bristol City region.”

It’s going to be a hard sell in 2026, or any other time. “Your disabled friend may be in destitution but you’ve got a job making cluster bombs.”

The glee at which the war on environmentalism and the ‘populism’ of the attacks on Net Zero which have become standard in much of the right-wing narrative in Britain, may play well to the ignorant, but the ‘Slide Towards Authoritarianism’ is unlikely to be cherished by a generation scared for their own future by this madness.

As Labour burns its electoral goodwill in a desperate attempt to shift to the right, it is making a historic mistake. As Frances Ryan, Author of Who Wants Normal? and Crippled puts it: “Labour MPs saying “the clue is in the name” to justify benefit cuts is wildly disingenuous. It co-opts Labour’s history to imply all those that cannot physically labour are somehow excluded from the cause. Being pro-worker does not require being anti-unemployed or anti-disabled.”

In among all of this you have an apparently perpetually anemic SNP and the rise of the chaotic and dysfunctional Reform UK. In a strange piece for The Herald, Kevin McKenna thunders: “It’s clear that the First Minister is rattled by the growing popularity of Reform UK and the abject failure of the SNP to halt this.”

“Many decent people have indicated support for Reform UK because the SNP has itself become a haven for frauds and extremists.”

“A major contributing factor in this hollowing out has been the malevolent influence of the Scottish Greens. Reform UK may be a deeply unpleasant outfit, but they are like Sunday School teachers compared with the Scottish Greens.”

McKenna has the air of Matt Goodwin about him. One minute he’s talking about the “many decent people” who support Reform and the far-right and the next he’ll be an active supporter. There’s a lot of it about.

Polls from The Scottish Election Study group today show that both “Reform is now “comfortably” the third most popular party in Scotland ahead of the Conservatives – but is unlikely to gain much more support.”

Data from the academic group suggests Reform UK could win as much as 17.1 per cent of constituency votes and 17.8 per cent of list votes at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. But they also claim that “Reform will “struggle” to exceed 20 per cent in the Scottish polls, partly due to the fact the party appeals to a limited group who are pro-Brexit and anti-immigration, along with a deep unpopularity for its leader in Scotland.”

This why the support for the far-right group from those in the commentariat such as McKenna are important, they give legitimacy to the lunatic right, just as the media normalised MAGA in the USA.

This week’s viral moment came from the car-crash interview between the Deputy Scottish Political Editor of the Scottish Daily Mail Tom Gordon and Reform’s Richard Tice, where Tice was exposed as knowing nothing about his party’s own candidates, see here.

The exchange was followed by a bizarre ‘press conference’ with the owner of the Vald’oro Fish & Chips Shop on London Road, where Tice urged Scotland to “Drill Scotland, drill.” Mimicking Trump and mouthing desperate platitudes about Big Oil when we are in the midst of climate catastrophe will please some who have been conned into the war on the environment but most people will see it for the insanity that it is.

‘Fash and Chips’ is on order for those consumed by the culture wars and attracted to the messages of the far-right, but Labour emerging as a party of austerity at home and bombs abroad is changing the landscape north of the border, again. Labour as the great white hope that would save the Union is collapsing and the consequences are barely being recognised.

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