We have to be ready for anger at the existing order to erupt in many other forms.
Where the workers’ movement does not step into the vacuum and give a clear lead it will not prevent struggle but tend to make it more inchoate and complicated.
Riots are clearly a possibility but so are a myriad of protests on different issues – including new movements against women’s oppression, BLM protests, student struggles and protests on environmental issues, and protests against the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights, with trans people likely to continue to be among those bearing the brunt of Tory rhetoric.
Particularly on the question of combating climate change it is also possible, that desperate for action, some activists could mistakenly move from individual stunts to individual terror actions.
The national question is also likely to resurge under the next government.
The SNP’s support has fallen 10% in 2023, damaged by implementing austerity in government, and their own scandals.
It has also become increasingly clear to their supporters that they have no route to win independence.
Their 2023 conference agreed a motion that “if a majority of SNP MPs are elected at the next election, they would begin immediate negotiations with the UK government to give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent country.” However, Starmer has made clear that, like the Tories, he would block a new referendum on independence for Scotland.
While support for the SNP has fallen, support for independence remains at almost 50%.
As anger with New Labour in government grows, the urgency of fighting on this issue is also likely to increase among the Scottish working class.
With the SNP increasingly discredited in Scotland, the question of independent working-class political representation will be posed.
In Wales too, support for independence has risen in recent years under the Tories, albeit from a much lower level than in Scotland, and could grow further as discontent with a Labour-led government in Westminster grows.
