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Does anyone think that, aside from internal issues, the concern over Brexit as well as the shenanigans of Donald Trump, may be having the effect of pushing European politics back to a the left a bit?
The effect of Brexit and Trump on European politics
- Thread starter Snarky Oracle!
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Not really. The UK Labour party winning 40% make them almost the most popular centre-left party, or affiliate to the Party of European Socialists, anywhere in Europe. Equivalent parties elsewhere is Europe have seen their support collapse. Only last weekend in the elections for the French Parliament, French Socialist Party only got 10% of the vote and last month their presidential candidate got just 6%. If anything, it is the extreme right wing parties that has seen the greatest rise in their support across Europe.
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You don't think it might be starting to swing back a little?
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No evidence of this happening anywhere other than the UK and here it was partly due to the personality of Jeremy Corbyn and his ability to attract new members to the party who were instrumental in carrying out a successful ground campaign which got more people voting Labour than has been the case in many years. The UK Labour Party has seen it's membership soar since Jeremy Corbyn became leader and it current stands at 800,000 people, including 150,000 who have joined since the general election. No other political party in Europe has seen that kind of increase in membership. It's possible that other socialist parties in Europe will try to emulate UK Labour's tactics to achieve greater success but it's not happened yet.