by John Zhu

    LONDON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The British ruling Labor Party performed poorly in two straight elections both locally and in Europe within days, a political disaster for the left, putting the island country on a brink of isolation from the European continent.

    In the local elections last Thursday, Labor lost three of its four county councils to the opposition Conservatives.

    As bad as that was in the European Parliament elections across all 27 member states that ended Sunday, Labor trailed behind two eurosceptic parties that both advocate a withdrawal from the European Union.

    With just 15.3 percent of the vote, Labor had its worst nationwide election result since World War I, which was another political disaster for the party and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

    It seems that Britain has been moving further apart from Europe.

    DARK DAYS FOR LIBERALS

    A striking theme across Europe was the way voters punished center-left political parties. The turnout figures fell to 43 percent -- the lowest in the 30-year history of the European Parliament elections.

    The results have been interpreted as a failure by the left which should have taken the advantage of the global financial crisis to favor traditional critics of free market excesses.

    Instead, far-right and anti-immigrant parties have made the headlines. Their populist politics played on fears of disappearing jobs.

    The xenophobic and racist British National Party (BNP) made headlines in Britain as they won two seats in the European Parliament for the first time in its history, to the astonishment of the country's mainstream political parties.

    But the success was not necessarily linked to that more people agree with its extreme views. As a matter of fact, the BNP's total number of votes fell in the regions where they won their seats.

    DANGERS OF ISOLATION

    However, Brown cannot escape from his infamous phrase about creating "British jobs for British workers."

    It is a worrying example that how mainstream political parties have lowered themselves to the levels of the far-right that they routinely disregard.

    Politicians missed the initial opportunity to engage the working class whose jobs are under threat in a recession. When they finally realized their positions being threatened by the far-right, most could only make shamefully simplistic gestures.

    Instead, liberals should be outlining the true economic benefits and costs of immigration. A real danger resulting from the European elections is to the region's long term economic future. Overregulation of finance is the hot topic for the day, but overregulation of immigration is arguably just as critical.

    In January, a Czech artist created a new installation, called "Entropa", for display at a European Council building in Brussels. It was a satirical depiction of all 27 EU countries. Owing to its perceived euroscepticism, Britain was "represented" by being absent altogether.

    The controversial, but prophetic, work of art has since been removed, but Europe has a difficult job showing that art does not imitate life. A reasoned debate on barriers constructed through nationalist perceptions will be a good start.

    MARKETS UNPERTURBED

    Despite a "political disaster" for the British ruling party, the markets remained relatively unperturbed.

    The recent political scandal over parliamentary expenses hardly dented the general optimism in the stock market. Yields on British government bonds also have not increased as fast as U.S. Treasury bills either, amid an uncertainty over Brown's future.

    Brown has repeatedly rejected calls for an early election and vowed not to step down as prime minister.

    The problem for those in the Labor who want to see him go is that the government could not credibly appoint a second unelected prime minister in a row without calling an immediate general election, in which Labor is likely to lose badly.

    If Brown does hold on until the general election, then markets will probably see that as a further sign of stability. Because in the financial market, a less powerful government is at least less likely to make rushed decisions with unintended consequences.