And what did the left outside Labour contribute on May 7?

You can argue, from the point of view of the struggle against austerity, that the left outside Labour made an historic breakthrough on May 7. Certainly the SNP's 1.5 million votes in Scotland and their 56 MPs, the 1.2 million votes for the Greens across the UK and the 182 thousand General Election votes in Wales for Plaid Cymru have put opposition to austerity at the centre of the political mainstream, at Westminster as well as in Scotland and Wales.

Labour had the opportunity to take the lead in a British wide anti-austerity alliance. Such a bold and principled move in the politics of Britain would have recomposed the entire British political landscape at a stroke. (And changed their own party's fortunes dramatically for the better.) But perhaps inevitably, Labour spent their time denouncing, and trying to defeat, the parties outside Labour that stood against austerity because - they might let in the Tories, (whose policy was also more austerity!)

Nevertheless, British politics have changed. It is still possible to build a wider anti-austerity alliance across the country and, in due course, overturn the new austerity government. A total of 11.9 million voted for Labour or for anti-austerity parties. 9.2 million voted Labour. It is of course impossible to know whether those millions were voting to continue austerity as Labour proposed, or whether they 'held their noses' on that point, thinking that Labour had the only chance against the hated Tories. It is at least reasonable to assume that Labour's voters believed there would be less austerity with a Labour government than with the Tories. And now those millions have to protect themselves and their society. They have a fight on their hands. Surveys of Labour voters demonstrate that they share very little of the sectarian hatred for the SNP in particular or the anti-austerity parties in general, that was exhibited by Milliband et al.

11.1 million voted for the Tories. They have become a government. As a result, in part because of the Labour leadership's sectarianism and political fear of the establishment, after the election the anti austerity alliance will have to continue to make its force felt in action, in mass mobilisation, in a British wide movement on the ground. The Peoples Assembly and its alliance with key unions, leads that movement of action today. And the alliance it has already created can expand much wider in the new political situation; further in to the unions, now fighting the austerity government for their democratic rights; bridging to the Greens in their struggle against the multi-nationals and the waste of our resources; with the SNP over funding for the NHS and the rights of the Scots to repel austerity in Scotland; with Plaid over sufficient funds to maintain the welfare state in Wales. The June 21 Peoples Assembly demonstration will give the first signal of an anti-austerity movement that has been not victorious but significantly strengthened by the, albeit limited, democratic expression of the people on May 7

And what of the rest of of the left outside Labour?

The Socialist Party electoral front, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), played no roll whatsoever in national politics or the anti-austerity struggle in the election. With the exception of ex Labour MP, Dave Nellist, who achieved 1800 votes and 3.9 % of the votes in his constituency, TUSC's 135 candidates scored 36000 votes in total; about 266 each. It is difficult to see the TUSC's campaign as anything other than a small party building operation. The 13 Left Unity candidates did considerably worse.

In practise this proportionately huge effort by a small number of people who, in constituency after constituency were virtually unknown, many candidates with little or no particular reputation, is also an exercise in sectarianism, albeit on the margins.

There is a different quality to the efforts of some of the independent candidates, particularly the candidacy of Louise Irvine who stood for the NHS Action Party in Jeremy Hunt's constituency. Representing the successful battle to save Lewisham Hospital, Louise Irvine scored nearly 5000 votes (8.5%) with a campaign which was seen as different, independent and of national significance (viz the Daily Mirror coverage.) It surfaced nationally around the real issues for the NHS - critical given the fairground, NHS-giveaways employed by both Labour and the Tories by the end of the campaign. People who followed the election now know that there is a serious argument about NHS long term funding and there are serious people out there who are making it. The result in what is usually seen as a right wing, write-in seat, proved that leaders who come from a credible struggle and background can make a significant impact in most political territory. Such credentials and specific purpose are a clearly preconditions for any real impact by candidates who are both outside Labour or the anti-austerity parties in electoral politics just now.

The famous supposed 'vaccuum' left by Labour's turn to the right has in real life, now started to fill. Since Scargill tried to create his own version of the 'lost' Labour Party in the mid 1990s there have been various attempts, some healthier than others to 'fill the gap.' Well; that particular story is over. No schematic abstraction conjured by scholars of the left has worked and now there is a new situation. A small suggestion; perhaps Left Unity and TUSC should consider seeking organised fusion on an anti-austerity basis with the Greens in England, Plaid in Wales and and either the SNP or a shortly to emerge, Scottishised Labour Party in Scotland? There is a fight to be had. A movement to defeat austerity to be built. New 'tribunes of the people' to emerge. Better not to waste time and effort.