Labour despair: ‘Under Jeremy Corbyn a window opened, now it’s slammed shut’

In the Jolly Gardeners pub in Putney, it was business as usual on Friday night. A gang of girlfriends competed for noise against a Christmas work do, while one table of friends dressed in Santa hats tucked into burgers. Amid the buzz, Joe, a 23-year-old barman, was despondent. “I joined the Labour party four years ago and obviously we got a result here,” he said, “but what does it tell you about the rest of the country?”

On Tuesday, more than 700 volunteers showed up in the south-west London constituency to canvass for Labour’s Fleur Anderson. By Friday Putney was the sole seat gained by the party from the Conservatives – “a bright light in a dark night”, said Anderson of her win. In a campaign hashtagged #FleurTheMany, hers was among several marginals targeted by young activists canvassing on the streets, on social media and putting in shifts at phone banks. How were they feeling now?

“People keep asking where that energy goes now,” said Yasmin Lajoi, a 31-year-old music manager from Hackney. “But activism doesn’t just happen during election time, we can still fight austerity and volunteer at food banks and homeless shelters. We can still protect people and look out for each other. We will survive the next five years, but I’m worried for everyone who really needed this win.”

Lajoi was among many first-time canvassers organised on WhatsApp who went to Putney, Kensington, Ruislip and Chingford to campaign for Labour. On election night she met a homeless man who said he wasn’t registered but would have voted Conservative if he could. “I am very rarely speechless, but I don’t know how to process that: you’re suffering, you’re homeless, you might not survive the next five years, but what – at least it won’t be a Polish coroner who does your autopsy?”

Ethan Axelrod, a 24-year-old trainee solicitor who canvassed in Kensington, said he was “determined rather than hopeful” that his energy wouldn’t dissipate. “We need to do material things to alleviate the suffering of the worst-off in society – volunteer, give time and energy – and not think that because we’ve lost this battle that we have to give up on the issues.” Axelrod was worried most about the environment. “Comparing this to the 1980s and how awful things were then doesn’t take the climate into account, which is one massive difference. In five years, you can’t elect a Labour government and hope things will be OK again – it will be too late and the damage is irreparable.”

Lajoi and Axelrod had both been inspired by Jeremy Corbyn before, but neither felt the leader should have fought this election. “We didn’t lose this election because the manifesto was too leftwing,” said Axelrod. “Corbyn is the reason a lot of people didn’t vote Labour.” Lajoi agreed. “I don’t buy into the culture of the magic grandpa, and Corbyn is too nuanced to be a politician leading a party. He doesn’t do soundbites and slogans; he can’t capture the mood in a few pithy words.”

Novara Media’s contributing editor Ash Sarkar, 27, disagreed. “Are you genuinely telling me that the performance would have been better if Liz Kendall had been Labour party leader?” she said. “Corbyn created a space for an anti-austerity movement that exists outside electoral politics and those people are still there. There are half a million people who feel there is space for them in this party.”

Sarkar had covered the election throughout the night and by Friday lunchtime had yet to get any sleep. “I feel like in the last few years, with Corbyn and [John] McDonnell, it felt as if a window had opened a tiny crack and I could see a glimpse of what a future could be like,” she said. “After last night I feel that window has been slammed shut.”

The upset among young Labour voters was palpable – after all, in the 2017 election the spike in youth turnout changed political analysis, with age replacing class for the first time as the best predictor of voting intention. Yet despite a record number of 18- to 24-year-olds registering, turnout was lower this time.

Maliha Reza, a 22-year-old master’s student, said she had been canvassing almost every evening. “I am fearful of what five more years of this looks like,” she said. “Corbyn’s willingness to listen to young people like me is what drew me to the party. The politics of hope was refreshing. Now I’m frightened for our future.”

What did she think went wrong? “It’s difficult to pinpoint the result to one specific event, it’s something we need to analyse over the coming weeks. I do believe this election was riddled with heavy anti-immigrant sentiments and an overall resentment against minority groups by the Conservatives. But knowing the devastating impact this government will have on the most vulnerable in our society is what pushes young activists like us.”

It’s a sentiment Joe shared, while pulling a pint. “The whole Tory campaign was fought on racist, nationalistic principles. We need a change to be able to fight that and Corbyn can’t connect.”