Lead Item

So much for being 20 points ahead, but an eight or nine point Labour lead for what? In the next few days, the Official Opposition will officially become the Government's majority, specifically for the vaccine passports that, like all identity card schemes, will intentionally attack the working class, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, political dissidents in general, and peace activists in particular.

Although they were never as pro-austerity or pro-war as the Labour Party is now, the Liberal Democrats were the more pro-austerity and pro-war party to the Coalition. Even the baleful economic and foreign policies of the May and Johnson Governments have not been as egregious as those which were implemented when there were Lib Dems in the Cabinet. That party's inclusion in the Progressive Alliance is perhaps the most baffling thing of all about that bewildering project.

Yet if the Lib Dems had voted against vaccine passports, even if only out of opportunism, then they would still be worthy of a vote at North Shropshire on Thursday, in order to push the Labour Party into a richly deserved third place or below.