Conservative Party is being defeated by demographics

Whether this is accepted or not, the fact remains that demographic changes are changing the political map of England and in particular of London. There are swades of people that might abstain from voting Labour, but would certainly not support the Conservative Party. During the recent local elections in London, there were block votes and mixed votes. Block votes is when all votes on the ballot paper are for a single party. A mixed vote is when on the ballot paper votes are for different political parties. 

After recent changes in terms of the number of wards and of the candidates that could be chosen to represent each ward, it became apparent that people in general could support Labour and Greens or Lid Dems on the same ballot, but very few could bring themselves to choose a mixed vote that included Conservatives. Another option, for many voters who did not want to vote Labour was simply to abstain in a sort of protest vote.

In Conservative ranks there is the view that 'Westminster is poisonous'. This means that events happening at national level are somehow putting off Conservative voters and anybody else who in theory would be willing to support Conservative candidates.

The race card and the socio-economic card play a huge part in local elections in London. The Conservative Party managed to lose the only Councillor it had in Clapham, Lambeth. Members of ethnic minorities would not support the Conservative Party. I have chosen the label 'ethnic minorities' when in fact so called ethnic minorities have become majorities in several London boroughs.

London politics is tribal and tribalism is very much undermining democracy when people vote along racial lines driven by misconceptions about what candidates actually represent. One can understand why Labour demonises candidates of other political parties as a way to keep itself in power, but this undermines relationships between communities. If politics is dominated by ghetto mentalities, and ideas about 'us and the others', peaceful coexistence cannot be promoted.