Pete asks whether Labour’s tactical voting ploy can work. My suspicion is that it cannot and will not. This is not 1997. There is all the difference in the world between voting tactically against a government and voting tactically against the idea of a government that may otherwise come to power.
More generally, the advice from Ed Balls and the others that tactical voting is the smart thing to do is an admission that Labour no longer believes it can win. Given the state of the polls that’ hardly a startling conclusion but the problem, from Labour’s perspective, with conceding it publicly is that it cannot possibly motivate Labour voters to get to the polls. Quite the reverse in fact. The message “Abandon Ship! Save Yourselves!” is no way for the party to hold its nerve.
On the contrary it risks Labour becoming a disorganised rabble in these last hours of campaigning.
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