Labour’s no longer party of the working class, says polling guru

LABOUR’S days as the party of the working class are ‘long over’, elections expert John Curtice believes.

Professor Curtice, whose election exit poll pointing to a hung parliament stunned the main parties, said that this month’s election had been decided on lines of age and Brexit allegiance rather than class.

New analysis yesterday revealed that the Tories picked up large numbers of working class voters during the campaign, while Labour’s surge relied mainly on support from the professional classes. Speaking at an event organised by the Social Market Foundation thinktank, Professor Curtice said the Tory strategy of pursuing working class voters had been successful.

Tory support among working class voters rose by 12 per cent at the election, compared with 2015.

But he warned that it had been neutered by a ‘tsunami’ of support for Labour among ‘social liberals’ who oppose Brexit. ‘It’s not that the Tory strategy didn’t work,’ he said. ‘They did win working class voters, they did win Ukip voters, they did win Leavers.

‘It’s just that that tsunami of support among young, middle class pro-Remain professionals for the Labour Party proved to be more than enough to counteract the Tory success in their target audience.’

He added: ‘Jeremy Corbyn was not particularly successful at chasing the traditional working class vote.

‘But the days when Labour was a party of the working class are long since over. It is predominantly a party of social liberals.

‘In the Commons we do now have one party principally representing social conservatives and on the other side a party that is principally representing social liberals.’