We have to be a centre-left party to win elections
Defeated MP on why Labour idealists must compromise to get into power
Labour can only win office as a centre-left party, according to an ousted former minister. David Hanson urged party members to haul Labour back to the centre ground once Jeremy Corbyn quits, so it can once again wield power.
Mr Hanson, who lost the North Wales constituency of Delyn after 27 years as an MP including stints as a justice minister and security minister under Gordon Brown, said: “When we’ve won the seat in Delyn, we have been perceived to be a centre-left party.
“When we have lost the constituency – in 1983, 1987 and now in 2019 – we’ve been seen as a party that’s far too leftwing for the public.
“You have got to be centre-left.” Delyn was created as a constituency in 1983. It is made up of several towns in North East Wales, including Mostyn, Holywell and Mold.
But the biggest is Flint, on the banks of the River Dee.
Flint’s three Polish shops – Flint Polski Sklep, Wawel Store and Krakow Mini Market – are evidence of an influx of eastern European migrants.
An estimated 10,000 to 13,000 Poles live in nearby Wrexham, many of them working in factories.
Mr Hanson’s now-disused constituency office stands in a row of shops including two of the Polish stores.
A poignant sign in the window says: “Due to the General Election result, the office is now closed to new enquiries. May I take this opportunity to thank you for all your support in the past.”
Some Labour members and proCorbyn commentators are accused of preferring idealism to the compromises and pragmatism needed to get elected.
Mr Hanson explained why being popular enough to win power was more important than clinging to ideology.
He said: “The minimum wage [introduced in 1998] was a huge change to people in my area and that wouldn’t have happened had we not won seats [in 1997] in Kent and Suffolk and Hertfordshire and Essex. People who voted Labour in other parts of the country delivered a minimum wage for people in my area.
“But we have lost that ability to appeal to the centre ground.”
He wants Labour to present its values – “social justice, equality of opportunity and fairness; values which chime with the British people” – in a “way that understands where people are”.
Mr Hanson believes Labour was clobbered partly because voters did not trust the party to deliver its promises.
To win power again, it needs to not only win back core supporters but also appeal to people who are not traditional Labour voters, he said.
“There were people in this election who were Conservative voters who hated Brexit, didn’t want to support
Boris Johnson but couldn’t vote Labour because they felt Labour wasn’t appealing to them,” he admitted.
“We have to win that type of voter, to deliver sensible policies.
“The way to win back seats like mine is by being a centre-left party.”
Mr Hanson, who is backing Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer for leader, said it was “critical” Labour made the “right choice” to succeed Mr Corbyn.
While Mr Hanson was a Remainer in a Brexit-supporting seat – Flintshire voted Leave by 56% to 44% – he blames Labour’s unclear policy for confusing the electors.
“People who voted Leave thought we were against Leave and the people who voted Remain, many of them didn’t believe that we were Remain enough,” he said. “We had a lack of clarity on that issue.
“We were finding people on the doorstep who had always voted Labour wanted Brexit ‘done’.
“I couldn’t change my view, I have a different view of Brexit and I couldn’t vote in the House of Commons [for
Brexit].” Public perception of Jeremy Corbyn was a problem too.
Mr Hanson added: “We found as many people on the doorstep who were concerned and couldn’t vote Labour because of their perception of the Labour leader as we found on Brexit.
“In 2017 they gave the Labour Party the benefit of the doubt. In 2019 they felt the perception, in my view, was the leader was too left-wing, there were concerns about historical issues which they had perceptions of about terrorism, security, defence and patriotism. Those, added to the Brexit issue, meant people felt they couldn’t vote Labour.”
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