The cost of disunity
The European elections were the first serious challenge to
Labour leader Tony Blair.
Progressive nationalist forces continued to gain ground in
Wales and Scotland. But outside Scotland, the far left is
Beckett protested that this election was not about the single currency, even (falsely) claiming that the European Parliament has no jurisdiction in this regard.
More fundamentally, New Labour's attempt to run an election campaign with no reference to European politics join-individually, or as an organised tendency.
Combining these two scores, the Scottish far left did almost as well as the LO-LCR list in France (5.2%). The strong vote will give more credibility to Tommy Sheridan, the SSP representative in the Scottish Parliament.
The English far left was much less successful in articulating the growing disillusionment with New Labour Dissident Labour MEP Christine Oddy attracted 36,849 votes (4.34%) in the West Midlands. A more autocratic and eclectic campaign by ex-Labour MEP still divided Veronica Fagan