Labour’s Social Base Is Collapsing

Despite strong local candidates running on a strong socialist record, Salford Labour could not overcome the collapse in trust towards the national party — or the erosion of the movement beneath it.

The Salford Lads and Girls Club. (Credit: Christopher Furlong via Getty Images.)

In the months leading up to the local elections, internal discussions within Salford Labour often turned to our worst-case scenario: the fateful ‘extinction event’ of the Cretaceous Period. Then, as the results came in during the early hours of Friday morning, we saw the asteroid hit.

Like Labour groups across Britain, our losses were severe. We held on to just three councillors out of twenty-one contested seats. Dedicated and capable colleagues lost, including our Deputy Mayor Jack Youd, three cabinet members, and a host of ward councillors. At the same time, Reform UK made major gains across the city, while the Green Party took three seats in urban wards spanning the ever-expanding Manchester and Salford metropolis.

Reform’s victories in Lancashire and Durham in the 2025 local elections painted a bleak picture of what might await Salford. Against this backdrop, campaigning operations were ramped up across the city, particularly in target seats. We threw the kitchen sink at it, creating year-round newsletters, intensively door-knocking, targeting voter outreach, hastily assembling social media operations, and facilitating a constant stream of online content. None of it, however, was enough to avert disaster. Our efforts were overwhelmed by an opposition whose candidates were barely visible (most relied on nationally funded mail drops), and even councillors who were extremely active lost their seats.

Salford Labour’s plans for avoiding the asteroid depended on convincing voters that these were local elections, not a referendum on the national party. Since 2016, the Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett and Salford Labour Group have governed as democratic socialists, building social housing, fining rogue landlords, in-sourcing adult social care, and introducing a local Winter Fuel Payment, despite the constraints of austerity. We hoped that record, combined with strong local candidates, would be enough to overcome growing anger with Labour nationally. Unfortunately, it was not: the unpopularity of the current Labour leadership is visceral. ‘Starmer’ was the word heard most often on the doorstep and never with a smile. Like it or not, the party has become defined by public disdain for its leader, and any serious conversation about rebuilding must begin with a change at the top.

In many wards lost to Reform, the Green vote also increased, splitting the left-wing vote to Reform’s advantage. Gaza, the cost-of-living crisis, and the unkillable Peter Mandelson scandal — to name but a few — have all driven progressive voters away from Labour. Yet the Greens still struggled beyond urban graduate centres and areas where anger over Gaza runs especially deep, demonstrating their limited appeal in working-class towns and suburbs. Labour is clearly still the strongest defence against Reform in many of these areas, but our core support is falling away.

So, how do we stop the bleeding? One answer may lie in Eccles, a historic market town where Salford Labour performed best this year. The branch still resembles what the Labour Party once was at its best: active members, visible councillors, strong local roots, and genuine community presence. Despite suffering losses after the collapse of the Corbyn era and Starmer’s infamous ‘you can leave’ speech, the division has remained active, well-populated, and largely autonomous.

Just weeks before the election, Eccles Labour councillor Nathaniel Tetteh was subjected to horrific racist abuse. He nevertheless ran a disciplined and dignified campaign, securing re-election with a ten percent majority, despite both a strong Reform vote and a significant Green surge. While Tetteh deserves credit for his victory, the work of an active branch and committed membership was essential to his campaign. It is a reminder that embedding local parties within their communities remains our best hope of preventing Labour from sliding into irrelevance. The party cannot forget its roots in the broader workers’ movement — woven into everyday life through union branches, labour clubs, and social events. Where Labour was once a constant presence in working-class communities, the party is now often seen as a professional organisation of office workers, which briefly descends on housing estates at election time.

The Labour Party’s campaigning operation is undeniably slick and well-resourced. With the party’s software infrastructure, local branches can identify voters, organise canvassing, produce campaign literature, and generate online content with relative ease. By all accounts, the regional organisers are professional and highly effective. But after this defeat, one wonders whether Labour’s obsession with campaign mechanics has come at the expense of genuine local connection. We are no longer present in the pubs, church halls, and sports fields where the movement was once rooted.

Crucially, Labour must rebuild the social structures and membership that once made the party integral to community life. In an increasingly isolated society, solidarity is both our strength and our responsibility. Trust must be rebuilt with trade unions and members alike. If local branches can once again become centres of social and civic life, Labour may prevent further alienation within its own movement. Yet, to survive, the party must reconnect with the social movements that created it.