Labour fears burka row will cost it seats in the North

JEREMY Corbyn fears Boris Johnson’s burka remarks chime with many Northern Labour voters and could rob him of power, party insiders claimed last night.

They said Mr Johnson’s remarks, in which he said the veils made women look like ‘letter boxes’, sparked concern in the Labour leader’s office because they appealed to Brexit-backing, white, working-class voters already suspicious of him. And if Mr Johnson became Tory leader, that could cost Labour vital seats in the North and Midlands that it must hold to have any chance of ousting the Tories.

Last month, the former Foreign Secretary sparked outrage with the comments about the burka – the Muslim Council of Britain accused him of ‘pandering to the far-Right’. But a senior Labour source said yesterday that the twin threat of ‘Boris burka and Brexit’ worried Mr Corbyn’s inner circle, admitting: ‘There was genuine concern in the Leader of the Opposition’s office over this.

‘It is no secret that despite Corbyn’s appeal in London, we have a problem with traditional working-class voters, mostly in the North and Midlands, who voted Brexit and are socially conservative. They’re already suspicious that we might sell out on Brexit for a second referendum.

‘And sadly, that sort of inflammatory language from Boris does chime with some of the voters we just can’t afford to lose.’

Labour’s concern is said to focus on 20 seats where it has a slender majority of under 5,000 and where many voted for Brexit in 2016. That includes Dudley North, where MP Ian Austin has a wafer-thin majority of 22 but which registered a 71.4 per cent vote for Brexit.

In Crewe and Nantwich, Laura Smith is just 48 votes ahead of the Tories in a seat which voted 60.3 per cent Leave.

Even arch-Corbyn loyalist Chris Williamson could be at risk. He has a majority of just 2,015 in Derby North, where 54.3 per cent of voters backed Brexit.