The Left

As the UK Labour Party seems to forget its roots and which side it is supposed to be on, I ponder the problems for the Left in UK in general and Scotland in particular. Sadly the UK's continued use of the archaic FPTP electoral system seems only to benefit the Tories and yet Labour, in particular appear reluctant to challenge it, under some misguided belief that someday they might once again win a majority in Westminster (almost certainly not with a majority of votes). And electoral pacts seem something the progressive parties are incapable of when it appears the best way to oust the Tories, even with their dominance of the media. A grand deal between Labour, LibDems, Greens and, yes, the SNP, to only stand one candidate between them in every constituency on a combined platform to introduce PR and a whole load of other reforms to the electoral system - no changing PM without a General Election springs to mind - would surely win a sweeping majority. Almost every other country in the world uses PR - enough of the exceptionalism. And once we have PR, smaller parties, like the SSP, can have a real electoral purpose. I recognise that statement isn't currently borne out by the situation in the Scottish Parliament, even with PR, but I'd argue that is because the independence question in Scotland currently dominates all other politics, left and right.