Under the surface of a very good set of elections for Labour and another very bad few days for the Tories, Ford, who was part of the BBC's elections analysis team, suggests there are a few trends that may give an early warning to some of the challenges the party may face in power.
In particular, the willingness of the left to be "much less partisan and back other options" such as the Green Party which now has a "serious and credible base in local government - having quadrupled the number of councillors they have in the last five years".
Ford discusses how "you have a real prospect of the Greens taking a bunch of councils from Labour early in the next parliament and the party being a major headache at by-elections." While some support "will come back into the Labour column at an election", he suggests that "in the course of the next parliament however we may see something new". "Under the New Labour government it was the Lib Dems that really made hay as the kind of anti-incumbent voice on the left. The Greens are going to play that role in a pretty big way" under the next Labour government.
As another Conservative MP defects to the party, the team discuss Labour's current targeted political strategy - with its focus on winning back the so-called 'Red Wall'. Some within Labour seek to dismiss criticism from the left as factional or only related to specific issues, such as the crisis in Gaza, but "they are a bit in denial over what's happening with Greens and Independents" according to Ayesha, who says that "a generation of young people have become more politicised by what's happening in the Middle East at the moment." She adds that many will "never forgive Starmer for that original LBC interview" and that such opposition to Labour over foreign policy or social issues could be "the big flare of danger down the track".
These challenges of party management and the potential for a split in Labour's electoral coalition quite quickly in government, as discussed on the recent episode of the pod with Labour Together's Josh Simons, is therefore a key challenge facing the party - with decisions it takes now having a real impact.
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