Adjusting figurines at Babbacombe Model Village near Torquay in Devon. Photo: Barry Batchelor / PA Archive/Press Association Images. All rights reservedThe Conservative hold on power in Britain is stronger than might be implied by its slim 17-seat majority in the 650-seat House of Commons. Labour, the only other party with a hope of forming an electoral majority, would need to gain around 100 seats even before the impact of the newly announced boundary changes is taken into account. Alternatively, it could settle for a coalition, and forge an agreement with the Scottish National Party; but this looks no more possible now than in 2015. As the Labour leadership contest draws to a close, the party’s road to power, whoever wins, is extremely difficult to forsee.
The Tory elective dictatorship rests on an almost complete dominance in southern England (outside large cities and university towns), which was also the principal area of support for Brexit. In the 2015 general election, the Tories’ targeted wipeout of the Liberal Democrats across the South West delivered their unexpected majority. South and west of Bristol there is only one non-Tory MP (Labour’s Ben Bradshaw in Exeter). Even more than in the much-discussed case of Scotland under the SNP, the South West has become a virtual one-party state.
