Comment: Why Labour under Jeremy Corbyn is stuck on repeat Published on: 6 May 2016 Writing for The Conversation, Dr Alistair Clark analyses Labour's showing at the UK local elections. Dr Alistair Clark, Senior Lecturer in Politics, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology , It seems a long time since anyone speculated about there being a Jeremy Corbyn bounce. Ahead of the local elections, the Labour leader sought to manage expectations by suggesting the party would not lose seats on English councils. The . Jeremy Corbyn summed it up when the party had 鈥渃lung on鈥�. And significantly, Labour fell . It came in an unthinkable third place in the parliamentary election, behind the Conservatives. Its Welsh constituency position , down around 7.6% 鈥� although the party remains the largest in Cardiff Bay. It lost councillors in England but fewer than had been projected by some. It held some important councils such as Nuneaton and Exeter (key swing councils) but with a projected national swing against it of around 4%, and in Nuneaton, a swing against the party of 11%. Even with a victory in the London mayoral election for Sadiq Kahn, this is hardly a party which looks like it is heading for government. In a sign of how low expectations had been managed, Labour鈥檚 spokespeople have been out in force spinning this as a reasonable night for the party. This is the end of a torrid period for Labour. The row about whether it has a has kept the party on the front pages for the wrong reasons. As polls closed, , one of the 2015 leadership contenders, appeared to declare that he would be standing for the post of Manchester mayor in 2017. And UKIP seemed to continue to win over the voters who would once have been Labour鈥檚 bedrock. Estimates are that Labour needs a 13% swing in England to be in a position to win a majority in 2020. According to a recent , only 14% of voters think Labour can win a general election if Corbyn remains leader. Among Labour voters, the figure is only 27%. A third of voters think he should step down now, while 42% of Labour voters think he should lead the party into the general election. Stalemate The party looks stuck, unable to move forward even if it could agree in which direction to go in. It is caught between a leader who is unpopular among the party鈥檚 MPs and the broader electorate, but hugely popular with the of members and supporters that joined the party in 2015 to back his leadership bid. The party is publicly divided on a number of issues 鈥� from Europe to Trident. There are about challenges to Corbyn鈥檚 leadership. Yet these results are not bad enough for anyone to move against him. Tom Watson, the deputy leader, made an early warning about this during election night when he said it was too early to remove Corbyn.
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