“My grandad grew up a miner’s son,” said Alan Strickland, a Labour MP, in a campaign video before the 2024 general election. The mind-twisting(令人费解的) line is meaningless but as a wannabe(想成为的人，效仿者) Labour candidate his hat tip (or flat-cap tip)(致敬，认可) to working-class history was de rigueur(必备的，合乎礼节的). Never mind that the last colliery(煤矿) in Mr Strickland’s patch was 30 years ago. The Labour Party is steeped in sentimentality(深陷于感伤).
“我爷爷是矿工的儿子，”2024年大选前，工党议员艾伦·斯特里克兰在一段竞选视频中说道。这句令人费解的话毫无意义，但作为一个有意成为工党候选人的人，他对工人阶级历史致敬（或曰平顶帽致敬）是必不可少的。尽管斯特里克兰选区里的最后一座煤矿已是30年前的事了。工党深陷于感伤之中。
On May 7th Sir Keir Starmer’s centre-left party was trounced(惨败，痛击) in local and devolved(权力下放的) elections. Its losses were particularly heavy in historical heartlands in the north of England, West Midlands and Wales. Along with the political cost, Labour MPs suffered the emotional toll(情感代价) of seeing their party reduced to dust(化为乌有，彻底毁灭) in areas it had held for more than a century. In the aftermath(后果，余波), nearly 100 of them publicly called for Sir Keir to resign, including four government ministers. Even if the prime minister limps on for months, few believe he will lead Labour into the next election. Despite the gloom(阴暗，沮丧), his successor still has a good chance of winning over the country.
5月7日，基尔·斯塔默爵士的中左翼工党在地方和地方议会选举中惨败。在英格兰北部、西米德兰兹和威尔士这些历史性的传统票仓，损失尤为惨重。除了政治代价，工党议员们在情感上也遭受重创，看着自己的政党在已掌控一个多世纪的地区化为乌有。此后，近100名议员公开要求基尔爵士辞职，其中包括四位政府部长。即使首相勉强再撑几个月，也很少有人认为他能带领工党参加下次大选。尽管形势黯淡，他的继任者仍大有希望赢得整个国家。
The drubbing(痛打，溃败) had long been expected. Labour has sunk around 20 percentage points in polls since 2022, when most of the council seats were last contested. But expectation management(预期管理) did little to ease the shock as results trickled in. The party lost 58% of its councillors up for election in England. It lost Barnsley and Sunderland, two northern stronghold(根据地，堡垒)s, for the first time since those councils were established in 1974. In Wales it fell from a century-long winning streak(连胜) to third place, with just nine seats in the country’s 96-member devolved parliament, the Senedd(威尔士议会). The party went backwards in Scotland—another former heartland—just two years after soundly defeat(彻底击败)ing the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the general election.
这场惨败早已在意料之中。自2022年（上一次大多数地方议会席位选举）以来，工党在民调中已下滑约20个百分点。但预期管理并未能缓解结果陆续揭晓时的冲击。该党失去了英格兰58%的连任议员。它失去了巴恩斯利和桑德兰这两个北方重镇，这是自1974年这两个议会成立以来的首次。在威尔士，它从一个世纪以来的连胜跌至第三位，在该国96席的地方议会（塞内德）中仅占9席。在苏格兰——另一个昔日票仓——该党也出现倒退，而就在两年前，它还在大选中大胜苏格兰民族党。
Things Can Only Get Better
事情只会变得更好