Blue-collar voters and the Left: Labour must reconnect with those it left behind

The tectonic plates of British politics are shifting. Insurgent parties such as the SNP and UKIP are challenging the century-old dominance of left and right. Whatever their ideological and policy differences, the new populists are anti-establishment and purport to speak for the voiceless, the angry and the disaffected – an appeal to working-class, blue-collar workers (often white and male) who feel alienated and left behind. Here, Adrian Pabst argues that Labour is highly disconnected from this group, and a profound rethink is needed if it is to offer majority politics.