The Change In The Basis Of The Electorate And The Failure Of The British Labor Party Election (since 2010)

Since the beginning of 20 th century,the British Labour Party has replaced the Liberals as one of Britain's two major political parties,competing with the Conservatives to take the reins.The political achievements of Labour stem from the support of the working class.The industrial area of central Scotland region always has been a strong supporter of Labour's political elections.Especially since the 60 's,with the development of Scottish nationalism,the Labour Party advocated that the central government should devolve more power to the local government in order to satisfy the demands of local self-government to maintain the unity of the United Kingdom,a policy which won the special favor of Scottish voters.The Labour government was ousted in 1979 after the Labour government held its first referendum on decentralization and failed.The subsequent Conservative Thatcher government continued to strengthen the authority of the central government and curb local power,which result in the Scottish public discontent and the resurgence of nationalism.As the long-term opposition party,the Labour Party continued to promote decentralization,gaining strong support from Scottish voters.The Labour Party consolidated and strengthened its voter base in the Scotland and Scottish region became a stable supporter to the Labour Party in the UK general election.In 1997,Labor Party won the election,and then held a second decentralization referendum.The results were successful in this time.So the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999.Scotland,which is in the process of decentralization,appeals for more local power,but Labour,as a big national Party,has no intention of further decentralization for the sake of the whole,providing a good opportunity for the rise of the Scottish National Party.The Scottish National Party,with its spirit of nationalism,won the three Scottish parliamentary elections in 2007,2011 and 2016.The Scottish National Movement,led by the National Party government,has developed rapidly.Scotland is on the verge of independence,and the Scottish independence referendum was held in 2014.Although the referendum failed,the prestige of the Scottish National Party has greatly increased.By contrast,Labour's opposition to independence was seen by many in Scotland as a betrayal,which cause the damage of the Scotsmen' support to the Labour Party.Owing to the Conservative Party's divide-and-conquer strategy,which further alienated Labour's relations with Scottish voters,Labour only won 1 seats and 7 seats in Scotland respectively in the 2015 UK general election and the 2017 UK general election,losing its traditional electoral advantage in the Scottish region.The change of the electorate base in Scotland leads to successive defeats of the Labour Party in the UK general election.