As European politics endures its roughest phase in recent history, French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron offers a rare glimpse of hope. Daniel Hobson, a Durham University global politics student, gives his personal view on what British politics stands to learn

IN modern history, Britain has notoriously been a two-party state, with the Labour Party and the Conservative Party tussling for power and leapfrogging one another since the early 1900s.

The system is rooted in history – Labour being founded in 1900 and the Tories in 1834, so it is difficult to see any change happening in the British political system any time soon. However, an article recently published in Foreign Policy suggested Britain was now a ‘one-party state’. The Conservatives have consolidated power in recent years and now hold a 16 point lead over Labour, according to recent polls – a far cry from the political situation just a decade ago.

So, just what has happened to Labour? Well, the coming of Jeremy Corbyn has divided the electorate and party members alike. Some find him ‘too soft’ or ‘too left,’ and for many he is simply not a credible leader of the opposition. After defeating Owen Smith in the Labour Leadership election last year, Mr Corbyn has remained relatively unchallenged, and no alternative candidates are forthcoming. Two Labour MPs have since quit and confidence in the party seems at an all-time low.

The political landscape is changing, and the once fiercely contested two-party system is no more. Many traditional Labour votes have dispersed into other parties since Mr Corbyn’s election. Huge numbers in Scotland have defected to the SNP, whereas some working-class voters in England have defected to Ukip. Even the Liberal Democrats have enjoyed a small level of resurgence in recent months, much to the dismay of those Labour Party members who still bemoan the spinelessness of the Lib Dems during the coalition government.

One might observe that all this leaves an awfully large political gap. Corbyn’s tired Labour Party remains on the far-left, trailing behind Theresa May’s resilient Conservatives, who are gaining power and then some. Where does our political system then go from here, if the Tories remain unchallenged?

Enter Emmanuel Macron. The French Presidential candidate, just 39, was a relative unknown to voters before the creation of his party, En Marche!, in April last year. The centre-left, pro-European candidate has shot to prominence ever since and now polls ahead of Marine Le Pen for the first round of voting.

Macron, now the bookies’ favourite, is predicted to win the presidency – his so-called ‘democratic revolution’ having turned French politics on its head in just a year. His campaign has received some help, albeit indirectly, through his main rival and former favourite, François Fillon, who has all but lost his chance at the presidency, following the revelation that he paid his wife €831,440 of taxpayers’ money over a number of years.

Nevertheless, Macron has surged on ahead without so much as a look over his shoulder. He has not only secured the vote of the left, but has also stolen the vote of centrists and the undecided. It remains to be seen whether he will secure the top job come May, but he has, at the very least, brought the allure of youth, innovation and compromise to French politics. Where Le Pen dangles the memories of La Belle Époque – the French Golden age, before the Great War – in front of voters, Macron looks to propel France forth into a new age of European integration. Sound familiar? I didn’t think so.

At home, our parties are regressive and outdated. The Labour Party, with its hooks stuck in the ancient Trotskyist and Trade Union movements, refuses to update. New Labour was a success, but has long since passed. Memories of the Blair era, marred by a fatal error, have pushed Labour back to its outdated core. And the old man and the circus now fall lower and lower in the polls. British author Simon Kuper noted the “nostalgic nationalism” of modern politics recently and this is true. We need only look at the Tories, whose claim to the good ol’ English identity has helped their surge to power in recent years. The slap on the back, good ol’ chap, cricket playing, empire loving, public-schooled and always superior air of arrogance reminds people of the good ol’ days – when we ruled the world and summered in Biarritz.

We are leaving the EU and we must deal with that. But we must not continue on this regressive trajectory of applying the past to the present. We need an opposition that can be forward looking and realistic, one that, like Macron, can attract the left and the right. Across the Channel we are seeing the singular challenge to populism. British politics remains comparatively stagnant. Vive la France!