As you are reading this article, we are in the middle of witnessing a crisis at play regarding the centre-left political party that is currently serving in government. The Labour Party were comfortably elected on a grand and bold promise to bring about hope and change to a country that was sick and tired of a lengthy period of the Conservative Party governing. However, things have seriously soured for them ever since.
Labour triumphantly replaced their right-wing opponents as the party with a comfortable majority in the House of Commons. However, their popularity and reputation have dramatically nosedived after a series of scandals, resignations and severely worsening socio-economic challenges.
To add to their woes, the incumbents are now having to deal with many by-election losses in historically safe seats. They also have an unpopular leader and unpopular policies. There is a lot to say about the current state of the UK Labour Party. It has only been days after its catastrophic loss to the Green Party in the Gorton and Denton by-election. It was a historically safe seat for Labour in which they came in third place.
The Currently Unpopular British Left, and the Previously Unpopular Canadian Left
But, then again, I could just as easily be writing about the completely dire state of the Canandian Liberal Party’s standing. They were in a highly similar situation towards the end of Justin Trudeau’s premiership throughout 2023 and 2024. It once seemed as if the Liberals had absolutely hit rock bottom. Commentators thought there was no way they could possibly be rescued from disaster. It was just months before the next election was due to be held.
At the very end of 2024 and the very beginning of 2025, Trudeau’s Liberals were barely exceeding 20 per cent in the national opinion polling. They were trailing their Conservative opponents, led by political veteran Pierre Poilievre, by more than 20 percentage points.
How Canada’s Liberal Party Defied all the Predictions to Win the Election
Very quickly after that things turned around in Canadian politics, astonishingly so. Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as Canada’s prime minister in January 2025. Less than four months after this, former central banker and political newcomer Mark Carney led the Liberals to their fourth consecutive victory as their new leader. They received a record-breaking 43.76 per cent of the popular vote in the process.
Trudeau and Carney have remarkably different reputations and life stories to each other. This can largely be attributed to such an incredible turnaround in electoral fortunes for the Liberal Party. Trudeau was merely a part-time high school drama teacher and snowboard instructor before he went into politics. He is also the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. This has caused accusations of nepotism.
Carney, meanwhile, has earned plaudits for helping Canada to avoid a recession during the late 2000s global financial crisis. At the time, he was serving as the governor of their central bank.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons – President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office (54502217284).jpg, May 2025.
The incoming Donald Trump presidency in the USA and the threats of tariffs and annexation that he placed the world under have certainly benefitted the left and harmed the right. However, it clearly helps to have a party leader with strong and solid economic credentials during times of crisis. This is where British Labour could potentially escape from a crushing electoral defeat in the next UK general election.
Lessons for the UK Labour Party to Learn from Canada’s Liberal Party
The Labour Party refused to allow Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to stand in this by-election. It has already been very widely asserted that this was a huge mistake. Selecting Angeliki Stogia arguably contributed to Labour losing terribly. In fact, Burnham might even have come in first place if he had been selected as Labour’s candidate instead of her.
Preventing Burnham from becoming an MP is calamitous for Labour, not only because it has now cost them this one seat. It is also because they now have no chance of recovering from their own polling deficit. I believe this, as Burnham will continue being absent from Westminster. He is also the only senior Labour figure who has a positive net favourabiility rating among the wider public.
This can largely be attributed to the resoundingly successful time that Burnham has had as the Greater Manchester Mayor. Similarly to Carney, he is being credited for contributing to a hugely improved socio-economic situation in a city that has now been transformed by regeneration. This has largely happened throughout his mayoralty.
The hard-won credibility that Manchester’s mayor has earned starkly contrasts the poor economic performance of the UK as a whole since Keir Starmer became our Prime Minister. Besides, Burnham has not served in any cabinet or shadow cabinet at Westminster. He has never even been a Labour MP since 2017.
Why Carney and Burnham are Both the Best Assets for Their Political Parties
Thus, he can dodge blame more easily for the way things currently are in the country. Mark Carney was similarly able to dodge blame for the tragic socio-economic circumstances that Justin Trudeau had presided over. He had never served in Trudeau’s caucus of Liberal MPs in Canada before replacing him as the prime minister.
Perhaps that indicates that Burnham is really the only potential future Labour leader who can save them from electoral oblivion at the next UK general election.
However, the National Executive (NEC) successfully prevented him from even having the chance to do so. This is making a landslide victory for Reform UK increasingly likely now, and currently looks to be alarmingly irreversible from now on.
Featured image credit: Oldelpaso via Wikimedia
