Corbyn ally fears decade in cold for Labour

LABOUR risks being shut out of government for almost a decade if it continues to be seen as “too Remain”, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn has said, as a proEurope former minister warned that the party must “heed the warning” from last week’s local elections.

Steve Howell, Mr Corbyn’s former deputy director of strategy, said Brexit was “undoubtedly a big factor in how some people voted” in Thursday’s poll, which saw Conservatives make gains across the country. His comments came as Caroline Flint, the Labour former Europe minister, warned that the party risked “alienating many traditional Labour voters” if it “fails to stand by the 2016 vote”.

She separately issued a warning over attempts by peers to make major changes to the Government’s EU legislation, in moves she says risk undermining the UK’s negotiating position.

On Tuesday, the Labour front bench will attempt to insert another amendment into the Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill, following a string of defeats led by Labour in the Lords. The latest change would remove the fixed “exit day”, March 29 2019, from the legislation. It appears to be an attempt to “postpone Brexit by a year, maybe two until, perhaps, an opportunity arises to overturn Brexit altogether”, Ms Flint writes in The Sunday Telegraph.

The MP, who supported the Remain campaign but represents a strongly pro-Leave constituency in Doncaster, said last week’s election results showed that opinion was “moving to the Conservatives” in some areas.

“If Labour stood strongly behind the decision to leave the EU, we could champion the need for … the very policies needed to restore faith among voters,” she writes.

Mr Howell, who helped coordinate Labour’s 2017 election campaign, said analysts were right to say that the results were a reminder of “how much Brexit matters” to voters.

“Labour is seen as being too Remain. We ignore this at our peril,” Mr Howell said. “The underlying story of this election is Brexit, not bins.”

Pursuing a course, advocated by Labour MPs including Chuka Umunna, of trying to reverse the referendum result, “would hand Leave-voting areas over to the Tories and destroy any chance of Labour winning the next general election”, he said on Twitter.

In an article published on Telegraph. co.uk, Brandon Lewis, the Conservative chairman, said the party’s gains were “made possible” by a new network of professional campaigners brought in to increase the party’s online presence and marshal volunteers.

He added: “Labour repeatedly told us that we could not compete in London, that the Midlands and the North were their territory. They told us that working class voters would never back us. This week we proved them wrong.”

Ms Flint warned that amendments passed recently by the Lords created “conditions to undermine Brexit” and weaken the Government’s negotiating position with Brussels.

The changes, which would allow Parliament to instruct the Government on its negotiating stance, would result in the UK looking “feeble”, she said.

She added: “Parliament should reject this game playing, and accept the country’s decision. We are leaving.”