THE UK snap elections held on 8 June ended dramatically in a hung parliament. The ruling Conservative Party lost its majority and the far-right UK Independence Party was effectively wiped out as the Labour Party led by veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn surged ahead with a vote share of 40% (an increase of nearly 10%) increasing its seats by 30 to 262. The election saw a massive increase in participation and a surge in voting among young people aged 18-24, inspired by Corbyn’s strongly anti-austerity, redistributive manifesto, and its slogan ‘For the Many, Not the Few’. While the ruling Conservative Party emerged as the biggest party in Parliament, they were left without an absolute majority and are currently struggling to form a workable government by negotiating an arrangement for support from the far-right sectarian Democratic Unionist Party, a Northern Ireland-based party known for its misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Catholic, and religious fundamentalist positions, even as the crucial negotiations with the European Union over Brexit have already begun. Fresh elections are predicted within months.

While PM Theresa May fought a disastrous campaign, avoiding meeting the public, refusing to debate publicly with Corbyn, and repeatedly performing U-turns (notably on the ‘dementia tax’ forcing elderly people to pay for social care) the real story of the elections has been not so much the failure of the Tories, but the rallying of voters around the vision of an alternative to austerity. Despite presiding over an economy in which more than a million people are now reliant on food banks (charities which provide free food parcels) in order to survive and 30% of children live in poverty, Theresa May called the elections confident of massively increasing her majority. The relentless demonization and mockery of Corbyn by the entire British establishment and media, as well as continual backstabbing by the powerful right-wing in his own party, with several prominent Blairites admitting that they would prefer a Labour defeat to a Corbyn-led victory, appeared to have effectively sidelined him. But as soon as the campaign began and the media was legally required to give at least some exposure to Corbyn’s actual manifesto, the mood began to shift and the distance between the two parties in opinion polls began rapidly shrinking. Policies geared to preserving and extending state social protection through taxing the super rich and corporates, saving the National Health Service, scrapping tuition fees for students, mass building of social housing, increasing the minimum wage, and renationalizing the railways and other public utilities and services proved highly popular. While accepting the outcome of the Brexit referendum as a fait accompli, the manifesto rejected the ‘hard Brexit’ advocated by May, arguing for prioritizing jobs and protecting rights and promising that EU citizens resident in Britain would keep the right to remain. The two terror attacks which took place during the campaign in Manchester and at London Bridge did not, as expected, shore up jingoistic support for the Conservatives.  Corbyn’s response, where he both highlighted the impacts of Tory spending cuts on policing and security as well as, more boldly, reiterating his conviction that British foreign policy has exposed it to such attacks and must change, received widespread public approval, as the murky dealings of the secret services and Britain’s not-so-covert use of Islamist militants (for example to overthrow Gaddafi in Libya) were put under the spotlight. By election day, unprecedented mass rallies all along Corbyn’s campaign trail, evidence of overwhelming youth support for Corbyn, and vibrant social media campaigning had made it clear that the contest would be very closely fought. Eight Tory Ministers, including the architect of their manifesto lost their seats to Labour, and erstwhile Conservative strongholds like Canterbury, and Kensington in London also fell to Labour as working class ethnic minority voters as well as students and youth turned out to vote in large numbers.

The rise of Corbyn is seen by many as spelling the end of Blairism and the neoliberal consensus which has dominated British parliamentary politics for the last two decades. But Corbyn’s anti-imperialist, anti-war politics and steadfast commitment to anti-racist, pro-refugee and anti-fascist struggles also distinguish him clearly from the much longer history of the Labour Party, which from the First World War onwards, was complicit in Britain’s genocidal imperial project, and later also consistently betrayed the interests of the Asian and African Caribbean working class established in Britain from the 1950s onwards. Emblematic of these differences has been Corbyn’s longstanding support for Palestine, for which he has been constantly pilloried by pro-Israeli groupings and media. Those who support Corbyn’s agenda are flocking to join the party, yet much of the parliamentary party remains unchanged. The manifesto, while progressive, also reflected the struggle between opposing wings of the party, for example in its failure to reject many oppressive aspects of immigration laws and practices, and its retention of Trident nuclear warheads. Further, while some of the many Labour MPs who continuously tried to undermine Corbyn’s leadership (some even attacking him during their own campaigns for re-election) are now seeking to eat their words in the hope of benefitting from his obvious popularity, there is clearly a core section of neoliberal Blairites who still hope to regain control of the party.

Meanwhile, the government is clearly in crisis, with the terrible human costs of British neoliberalism and racism starkly exposed by the devastating Grenfell tower block fire less than five days after the elections (see Box) and Theresa May’s callous and cowardly response underlining her party’s contempt for working class black and minority ethnic communities. While the Tories would clearly like to replace her, they appear to have no alternative leader who is not equally discredited. At the time of writing, the agreement with the DUP which could prop up a new Conservative government has still not been agreed. This has become even more urgent with the impending Queen’s Speech, a key moment when laws the government will seek to pass in the coming parliamentary session are announced, and when failure to win the backing of a majority of MPs is seen as a vote of no confidence.

Large protests are currently taking place almost daily. Whether it is in the protests against the Grenfell fire, or against the white supremacist Islamophobic terror attack on Finsbury Park Mosque, or against the Conservative agreement with the DUP, the cry of ‘May Must Go’ reverberates everywhere. The challenge now in Britain is to build a coherent and wide-ranging movement on the ground which will sustain the momentum of the election campaign and consolidate the forces of the radical, anti-racist, anti-imperialist left. The challenge now in Britain is to build a coherent and wide-ranging movement on the ground which will sustain the momentum of the election campaign, consolidate the forces of the radical, anti-racist, anti-imperialist left, and be able to hold any future Labour government to account on its progressive promises.