- Location
- Op een dag, Nederland.
- Pronouns
- she/her & ne/nem
The Labour Party in this world was stillborn for some reason or another, the LRC couldn't agree and ended up splintering, I guess. But the Liberals are not spared their splintering either (indeed, it was worse), and we end up with a chaotic period in which the Lib-Lab people ended up constructing some sort of "Democratic Party" out of the whole mess. The Lib-Lab-dominated Democrats massively prioritised coordination and compromise, and notably turned violently against general strikes in the 1940s. This created a swirling void, and Socialist Labour emerged.
But by the 1940s, a chunk of the labour movement, especially in Wales, decided that since there wouldn't be a labour party, they would embrace co-operative thinking and try to construct an independent workers-controlled economy. This caught on with wildfire, and managed to divide the movement between those that sought "universality" (aka active political lobbying) and those that sought "locality". Eventually, "universal" unions won out in most of Britain. But not Wales. By some stroke of luck (and some Democrats trying to appease voters), and some unholy fusion of Welsh Liberalism and Welsh "Labourism", cooperatives grew to dominate the Welsh economy by the 1950s, and unions there were dominated by "localist" elements.
Meanwhile with the political right, the splintering of the Liberals also affected the Conservatives as many right-Liberal parties dragged down the Tory vote. The "Anti-Left" Coupon was finally hammered out in the early 1960s and by the mid-1970s, the merger into the Progressive Party was finally agreed by all. The National Liberals, the Social Christian League, the Remembrance Society, the Jacobite Party, the rump Liberal Party, all signed the agreement. But one party refused - the Scottish Unionist Party. By then it was increasingly influenced by more Scottish regionalist rhetoric as a result of a juiced-up Scottish Covenant, and had leaders who had a deep interest in not being merged into the Progressives. In the end, no agreement between the two could be found, and some unwise words were exchanged. The next day, the Progressive Party leader announced they were still committed to being a "party for all Britain", and would run in Scotland. Hence the Scottish right became divided once more.
With the division between universal and local focused unions becoming more and more sharp, the Democrats made their greatest blunder in the 80s. Welsh society by the 80s was widely insulated from the rest of Britain, even economically, due to the domination of cooperatives. The National Health Service in Wales was even ran by a government-reviewed cooperative. But this was judged insufficient by a Prime Minister who kept receiving rumours about corruption in the Welsh economy [later proved correct], and the Welsh NHS was put fully under government control. Two days later, most of the Welsh Democrats left in protest and set up Llafur Cymru, the "Welsh Labour" party.
After the next election in 1986, the Progressives had a shaky minority dependent on hot-and-cold Scottish Unionists which demanded devolution. The Prime Minister realised that this could be a way to further lock out the Democrats from a formerly electorally-rich region for them, and added Welsh devolution to the bill in exchange for Llafur Cymru support. The shoutings of "treason!" from the Democratic benches echoed through Westminster, but the bill passed. And the Senedd of Wales was established in Cardiff, much to concerned cooperatives' relief. Llafur Cymru would, in the 1990s, form a "Westminster fusion" party incorporating all Welsh regionalists and nationalists called Ymasiad Cymru that was just there for two things - first to get every Westminster government to give the Senedd more power. And second to stop any moves against cooperatives. This uniting of that front ensured that YC would dominate Wales for the foreseeable future, even in the more rural north.
In the rest of Britain, thanks to Democratic moderation and a belief that they were too centralising, the Socialist Labour Party started to rise on a platform of "labour unions decide what they will, no nationalising anything worker-controlled, always side with unions". Simple, but the Democrats didn't fulfil it. Their leader, Reg Browne, was extremely popular especially in Manchester. And they did win a few seats in even Llafur Cymru-dominated Wales.
The final party of note emerged from decades of mismanagement of coal by Democrats and Progressives and a reaction against Progressives conceding too much to the separatists, in their mind. The Planetarian Party was clear - there shall not be any moderation on the pursuit of purifying the planet. Workers' rights be damned, corporate interests be damned. Even if it meant firing many workers and ruining the corporate bottom line - So. be. it. This argument caught on with the young generation of middle-class liberals who thought the Democrats sold out, man, and Progressives were reactionaries, and also with the more older sort of rural voter who thought Progressives weren't the right sort of Tory. Too liberal in economics and elsewhere.
The 2000 election in particular showed a very unsatisfactory outcome. Progressives pipped Democrats to the post, but had no majority, even with the Scottish Unionists. The Democrats bled seats and votes to the SLP as people grew more disillusioned of their moderation. The Planetarians won a seat in Dover, of all places. And despite widespread reports of corruption and backslapping between cooperatives and the Welsh Government, the Welsh voters gave Ymasiad Cymru more seats and votes, most often credited to their personable Westminster leader Heledd Langford.
In the end, Progressives went with top hat in hand to the Fusionists, and cut a deal in which the Welsh NHS would be fully handed back to cooperative hands, and all review would be done by the Welsh Government. Despite outcry from more traditionalist aspects [and those grumbling about the ignoring of the corruption], the sheer desire to return to power overrode all, and the Progressive-Ymasiad Cymru-Scottish Unionist agreement was signed.
The Democrats have just resigned themselves to sulking on the opposition benches of course.
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This is my take on a simple concept - "make a 'no-Labour' political system the most interesting you can". This likely is heavily implausible, but I tried.
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