Why Labour lost election: Welfare, migrants crisis... and Ed Miliband
LABOUR’S soft stance on immigration and welfare played a central part in last year’s election defeat, an internal report has warned.
The leaked report found that the party lacked credibility on the economy, and failed to ‘connect’ with voters on key issues.
The study also found that voters viewed Ed Miliband as a weak leader compared to David Cameron.
Jeremy Corbyn has been accused by moderate Labour MPs of suppressing the document, which was written by Dame Margaret Beckett, the former acting leader.
Her key findings were leaked yesterday in an apparent attempt to force Mr Corbyn to relent.
Last night Labour sources said the report would now be published next week.
The study is potentially embarrassing for Mr Corbyn, who is bent on dragging Labour even further to the Left.
Dame Margaret’s report, ‘Learning the Lessons’, suggests party officials who masterminded the campaign on the ground were relatively blameless.
It says Mr Miliband’s personal failings as a leader, coupled with the party’s drift from the political centre ground were the key factors in Labour’s crushing defeat. ‘We failed to connect with demographic groups who are seen as in the centre [of British politics],’ it said.
Voters’ fears that Mr Miliband would be pushed around by the SNP in a weak coalition were also identified as a factor.
The study found Labour had failed to counter the ‘myth’ that it had crashed the economy and that it suffered a ‘failure to build trust in the economy’.
The study also highlighted an ‘inability’ to ‘communicate on benefits and immigration’.
Labour’s stance on immigration and welfare has softened further since the election, with Mr Corbyn speaking out in favour of mass immigration and calling for higher benefits.
Last night, Labour MP John Mann said: ‘We failed to listen to the public on immigration and welfare at the last election and it cost us dearly. If we fail to listen again then we will lose the next election too.’
He said Labour was increasingly in thrall to wealthy middleclass activists who had little in common with its core voters.
But the study provides some succour for the embattled leader, arguing ‘some of the “Left-wing policies” were the most popular’, including a mansion tax.
The leak came amid a new row about the party’s stance on the Trident nuclear deterrent.
Ken Livingstone, a supporter of unilateral disarmament, who is co-chairing Labour’s defence review, said a study on Trident could be completed in ‘eight to ten weeks’ – leading to claims that the review was a stitch-up designed to end its traditional support for the deterrent.
John Woodcock, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party’s defence committee, described the intervention as a ‘deliberately provocative’ attempt to stoke Labour’s civil war on the issue.
He said: ‘Even if the leaders of this so-called review had prior defence experience it would be absurd to complete a review of nuclear deterrent policy in eight weeks.
‘This is yet another example that the team behind Jeremy Corbyn don’t give a stuff about how Labour looks to the public or whether we stand up for manufacturing jobs as long as they can provoke a fresh fight in the party.’