Opportunity Here is a great opportunity for Labour to show the Tories the extent of the anger ana mrustramon or Scottish people, and in the process winning But unhappily, the 'spirit of Bishop's Stortford' preventing the campaign taking any such advantage. Despite having formal commitment to the fight against redundancies and the fight to get rid of Trident, the Labour Party in this election is turning away the only methods that wil ensure these goals. It is also turning away those tivists in the labour and trade union that are fighting for them. Instead, it is content to rely on the passive loyalty of the traditional Labour voters in the area. saw the Party using opportunities as the by-election to build support for CND in the area.
Danger In the absence of such a radical alternative to the policies of the Tories, ooks as if the Labour Party is in danger of losing votes to the Scottish National Party. The SNP ac cuses Labour of having wasted the overwhelming support it received at the for their policies in Scotland. In a close contest, any defection of Labour support to the SNP could be critical.
The growing support should serve as a warning to the Labour candidate David Wiseman: watereddown socialist policies don't bring out the vote.
The Tories, the other hand, are maintaining their support.At the last general the Tory vote had reached its lowest since the war. What remains is a fairly solid middle class vote who could be expected to be relatively supportive of Thatcher's present course This is also strengthened by the reception of last week's budget.
Unable to capture any significant SUDOUl amongst organised and of Tory popularity. In turning slightly away hard-nosed monetarist DUCES the likelihood of massive defections of the Tories to the SDP alliance has decreased.
Stark The low-key reception given in the media to the campaign of Roy Jenkins contrasts sharply with the Warrington and Crosby. This very much affects the choice of the volatile layer to which they are appealing For the working class the choices are tar more stark.
SMRAGE
----- pull-quotes -----
DAVID GORDON MARCH ncrease M.P SOBY A MACH