Half of Labour Brexit backers abandon party
JEREMY Corbyn was urged to get tougher on immigration last night, after a poll found Brexit supporters are deserting Labour in their droves.
About 3.3million Labour voters backed Brexit in June, despite the party’s campaign to keep Britain in the EU.
A survey yesterday found that 52 per cent of them would not vote Labour now, despite supporting the party at last year’s election. That suggests the party’s agonies over Brexit could cost it 1.7million votes.
Mr Corbyn championed free movement during the referendum campaign, insisting that mass immigration was not ‘necessarily a problem’.
The Labour leader repeatedly said he did not want to see any limit on the number of EU migrants coming to Britain. However, a former Labour minister said: ‘The great irony is that the only part of the EU Jeremy likes is free movement – the main reason so many of our supporters voted to leave.’
The YouGov poll for the Times reveals that just 48 per cent of Labour voters who backed Brexit would still support Labour. Of the rest, 9 per cent said they would now vote Tory, with another 8 per cent backing Ukip. Some 7 per cent said they would support other parties, 24 per cent said they were undecided, and 2 per cent said they would not vote.
The findings fuel concerns among Labour MPs that the party has got dangerously out of touch with its traditional supporters on immigration, and risks losing voters to Ukip and the Tories in the Midlands and the North.
In recent weeks, Labour moderates have abandoned their support for free movement, arguing that the party needs to listen to its core voters. Former shadow Europe minister Emma Reynolds said Labour must take a tougher stance. Miss Reynolds, who supported Remain, said: ‘It is my strong view that no future deal can retain free movement of people in its present form. We must argue for restrictions while getting the best possible economic deal in the circumstances.’
Stephen Kinnock, another pro-EU Labour moderate, said: ‘The referendum had a clear message – the limitless nature of freedom of movement, despite its proven economic benefits, is not socially and politically sustainable.’
Mr Corbyn is considered out of touch by almost half of his core supporters, despite being on course to retain the leadership easily. Polling carried out by BMG Research for the Independent found 36 per cent of working- class voters thought Mr Corbyn was ‘incompetent’ and ‘naive’. Some 46 per cent said he was an ‘election loser’.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism is asking Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee to investigate whether a video on Mr Corbyn’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts was prejudiced against Jews.
In the now-deleted video, his supporters answer questions they are ‘ tired of hearing’, which includes whether they promote anti-semitism.
Saturday Essay: Pages 16 & 17