I keep trying to write a lengthy post on this and I just can't get it right so I'm just going to boil my opinion down to a couple of bulletpoints. While there are issues with Labour leadership and situational issues that can be brought up as relevant, I believe that the issues the Labour party faces are structural to the left, and therefore the Labour party is simply playing a game that is rigged against them at this point.

• The left globally has gone through a schism, so you have (super-simplified) a side of the political spectrum populated with social progressives whose #1 priority is climate change, but also social conservatives who are still just pissed off that their coal mine was closed. To expect those to share a party is ludicrous, and that's fine in most places, but not a first past the post country. Labour is asking groups of voters who are fundamentally opposed to each other to share a party, while a healthier system would simply see the progressives vote for Greens/Lib Dems and then enter into a coalition with the more conservative Labour party.
• The easiest way to unify left-wing voters is "more money for the poor, less for the rich", but the left has no credibility on this subject in a post there-is-no-alternative world. Leftist politicians in the late 20th and early 21st century roundly failed to argue against the idea that an increasingly impotent state in the face of globalisation is inevitable and even desirable, and so they have ceded the definition of credible economic policy to the right. Corbyn is decried as a socialist for ideas that were mainstream right into the late 20th century, while Hollande cannot even get his ideas to pass after election. As such, you can't energise voters to vote for traditional leftist parties based on financial concerns, because there is no reason to believe that they will be better off under the left than under the right. This is particularly acute in the UK, where the most recent Labour prime minister is infamous for being "Tory-lite".

Lots of relevant stuff has been brought up in this thread and in particular it's essential to note that the UK's press is stunningly biased politically to the point of being a huge elephant in the room when it comes to the health of British democracy. For me though, the core issue is that the Labour party is going through the same malaise that socdem parties are globally but without the release valve of smaller and more diverse leftist parties being able to pick up the votes that Labour drops. First past the post destroys everything but the most unified political fronts and it takes a Trumpian figure to unite the left in 2021. Labour had a number of years to reform the electoral process to avoid this and they did not do it, and they had years to establish themselves as a credible party of the poor and similarly failed to do that. The British left are just now paying for the mistakes of the past.

My personal preference for the future of the party would be for them to establish a firm and consistent identity of basically being less vicious Conservatives, and leave the progressive agenda to the more natural fits in the British political system. It would guarantee Conservative government in perpetuity, but if every major leftist party argued passionately for vote reform in the face of that there may eventually be some meaningful change. Alternatively, if Labour can scam their way into government for a single mandate and reform the electoral system while there, I'm fine with that if they can somehow make it work. Broadly though, I have very little hope for any FPTP democracy at this point in history. It astounds me that the Democrats in the US barely scraped over the line against a comically evil and incompetent Trump in 2020 and yet they see no urgency to change the system. I am very concerned to see where both the US and the UK go in the future.

On a lighter note, I learned recently that Ireland's electoral system was designed by the British to give fair representation simply to prevent the protestant minority from being totally disenfranchised politically. It is a fun quirk of history that the UK could give a colony a politically healthy system while locking itself into a system that would eventually lead to the corrosion of its democracy.

I hate the Tories with a passion but despite all the pain caused by years of austerity, greenfell and the abysmal way they have handled the pandemic, I still can’t see Labour being elected. Johnson and his colleagues only got in with such a big majority due to Brexit and come the next election they will certainly lose seats. However, the problem is we don’t have a credible alternative right now. Firstly,
Keir Starmer is a nice guy but he is the wrong man for the job. He is weak and ineffective. Secondly, Labour lacks a clear vision of what they actually stand for. Thirdly, the party is so divided and need to come together and unite. Fourthly, the voting system and changes in electoral boundaries has been designed in such a way to benefit the Tories.

It is clear from the polls that Labour have made little progress so far. We badly need a change of government in this country but unless Labour can elect a stronger leader, come up with some clear and credible policies and start to reconnect with the general public then sadly we are stuck with this abysmal right wing government.

On a lighter note, I learned recently that Ireland's electoral system was designed by the British to give fair representation simply to prevent the protestant minority from being totally disenfranchised politically. It is a fun quirk of history that the UK could give a colony a politically healthy system while locking itself into a system that would eventually lead to the corrosion of its democracy.

We're good at that. We also insisted that post-War (West) Germany should be a federal state with a proportional electoral system.

Will be interesting to see how the Greens fair in the next set of polling - given the Climate Emergency etc going on. Wouldn't surprise me if there was a big surge for them.

But to come with a strong Labour Leader, you need a strong candidate of which there are none in the Party right now, and the better Labour politicians all have cushy Mayor roles. I agree Starmer was always the best of a very average bunch, but I also agree with Suedehead's assessment earlier that the platform has not been the same as other previous leaders. He certainly lost his way and handled some things badly, but there are signs he's re-focused a little bit. It will be interesting to see his strategy, but as Umi pointed out brilliantly there is a delicate line and it's not as simple as saying "Let's all ride bicycles for the planet!" - of course, that is oversimplying a very complex issue but it's not as easy as some commentators have been stating on Twitter etc. this week.