The main lesson from the Brecon result: Demonstrating the effectiveness of Remain parties working together
A model for the next General Election?
Reflecting on the Brecon outcome the most striking feature which hasn’t really been commented on is that in a seat in Wales that PC felt able to step aside in order to help defeat the pro-Brexit Tories.
Given the relative closeness of the outcome it’s clear that this decision and that of the Green Party played a crucial part in this election and no doubt lessons will be learnt .
We have a first past the post voting system that almost helps the Tories and Labour at the expense of smaller parties. Here, in this by election, there was only one option for voters who wanted to express their choice for a Remain party and that was the Lib Dems. My guess is this decision of the Greens and PC made it easier for for Labour supporters to vote tactically.
There is little doubt that this lesson will be noted and acted upon. You can see situations where the Lib Dems step aside in seats where the Greens look as though they have the best chance of winning and, of course, there might be other seats in Wales where similar decisions can be taken by PC.
It also shows the impact of the referendum result on British politics and how it can be impacting on the traditional party system.
There had been many rumours that a number of those MPs who switched from the Tories and LAB earlier in the year might be ready to move to the yellows. This has many practical consequences particularly where you have a sitting LD parliamentary candidate in a seat where the CON or LAB MP switched to TIG or whatever it is called now.
The Brecon result demonstrates that collaboration can work.
Mike Smithson