‘Netflixing of society’ partly to blame for Labour party’s collapse

The Dutch Labour party (PvdA) needs to develop into a broad people’s movement which represents the interests of everyone, according to a new report into the collapse of the party at the March general election.

The PvdA, part of the outgoing government, won just nine seats in the national vote, down from 38 at the previous election in 2012, prompting much soul searching about the reason’s for its plunging popularity.

The report was drawn up by party stalwart and Breda mayor Paul Depla. It says the PvdA should ‘fully focus on themes such as work and income, care, the environment and the multicultural society to win back trust in social democracy’.

Depla spoke to ‘hundreds’ of people within and outside the party to draw up his recommendations.

One important reason for the PvdA’s collapse is the ‘Netflixing’ of society, he said.

‘Society is breaking into little groups which live in their own information bubbles, each with their own political party,’ he said. ‘If the PvdA becomes a little segment in its own right, we might as well give up.’