Following a fratricidal period for the left with Morales and Arce at loggerheads, right-wing, anti-MAS candidates obtained over 85 per cent of the votes cast in the latest general election, writes FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ

IT’S COMPLICATED. All relationships are. But the partnership for life between the trade unions — the working-class organisations that created the Labour Party — and the party itself has entered a new stage in which some, on both left and right, are questioning whether that relationship in its present form can survive.
On the right of the party — in Parliament and in the party apparatus — there is a clear sense that the powerful presence of trade unions in decision-making, candidate selection and policy formation now represents a threat to its 21st century project to decouple Labour from a politically engaged working-class movement and permanently occupy the centre ground.
Over a century, with occasional interruptions, Labour’s leaders enjoyed a comfortable relationship with right-wing union leaders who were content to allow the parliamentary party to determine policies.

Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT

Deep disillusionment with the Westminster cross-party consensus means rupture with the status quo is on the cards – bringing not only opportunities but also dangers, says NICK WRIGHT

Holding office in local government is a poisoned chalice for a party that bases its electoral appeal around issues where it has no power whatsoever, argues NICK WRIGHT

From Gaza complicity to welfare cuts chaos, Starmer’s baggage accumulates, and voters will indeed find ‘somewhere else’ to go — to the Greens, nationalists, Lib Dems, Reform UK or a new, working-class left party, writes NICK WRIGHT