Labour faces historic party split
One hundred rebel MPS threaten to form breakaway group to topple Corbyn after election
THE Labour Party faces a devastating split after the election with as many as 100 of the party’s MPS set to walk out and form their own breakaway group in an attempt to force out Jeremy Corbyn, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Moderate Labour candidates are already in talks with potential donors about forming a new “Progressives” group in Parliament if Mr Corbyn stays on as leader after a Tory landslide.
One potential scenario is for the MPS to resign the Labour whip and become independents grouped together in the Commons under the Progressives banner.
They could rejoin the Parliamentary Labour Party once Mr Corbyn is replaced with a leader they support.
Dan Jarvis, Yvette Cooper and Sir Keir Starmer could be asked to lead the group, although there is no suggestion they have been approached or have been involved in the talks.
Mr Corbyn’s claim earlier this week that he might stay on as leader even if the Conservatives win a landslide on June 8 has caused alarm among moderates, who are talking of a “bloodletting” when Parliament reconvenes.
Although they do not intend to form a new party, a well-organised anti-corbyn faction, which would sit together on the back benches, could make it difficult for Mr Corbyn to form a viable opposition.
Yesterday Mr Corbyn caused total confusion over his party’s Brexit policy by refusing seven times to confirm that Britain would leave the EU if he became prime minister.
Labour also announced that it would increase corporation tax by more than a third to pay for a spending spree on education – money the Tories say Labour has already spent 12 times over in other pledges.
One senior Labour source said: “There will be a bloodletting in July – sensible people are going to walk away. There is talk of a realignment because we can’t allow this to continue.”
The talks are going on in private because Labour candidates are desperate to ensure that they are returned as MPS and do not want to appear disloyal.
The source said “about 100” moderate Labour MPS were likely to sit in their own grouping after the election.
Latest polling suggests Labour could have as few as 160 seats after the election, meaning the majority of Labour MPS could be part of the new caucus.
The insider said: “The Labour Party cannot be the same as it was in the last parliament after the election. There is no cohesion. They have got to bind together. The Labour Party has got to appeal to moderate people who have got moderate views and that is the majority of the people in this country.”
Lord Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, suggested moderate MPS could learn a lesson from the victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election.
He said that the “simple truth of Macron’s victory is that he won by leaving his party, not despite doing so”.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn declined to comment on the claims of a walkout by moderate MPS, saying: “Jeremy is entirely focused on winning the general election.”
JEREMY CORBYN will today announce plans to increase corporation tax by more than a third to fund a spending spree if he wins the general election.
The Labour leader will say that corporation tax should rise from 19 per cent to 26 per cent by the end of the decade, reversing Conservative cuts.
He will announce plans to use money raised from the tax rise for an array of policies including restoring student grants, reducing class sizes and providing free school meals for all primary school children.
David Gauke, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “He’s spent this damaging tax rise on businesses on 12 different things and he’s already dropped numerous things he’s said he’d do before.”
It came as Mr Corbyn refused seven times to rule out keeping Britain in the European Union if he wins the election. He responded by saying that there was a “clear vote a year ago” and stressed his desire to get a “good deal with Europe”.
He said: “People know there was a referendum a year ago. I don’t know any more than you do exactly what is going to happen in the future.”
David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, said: “The chaotic incoherence of Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit means that the 27 other EU countries would make mincemeat of him in the negotiations. We simply cannot take the risk of Corbyn in Downing Street in four weeks’ time negotiating Britain’s future.” Meanwhile, a furious row broke out in Liverpool as an aide to Len Mccluskey, the leader of the Unite union, was parachuted into a safe seat.
Joe Anderson, the veteran mayor of Liverpool, was overlooked as a candidate for the safe seat of Liverpool Walton. It will instead be contested by Dan Carden, an assistant to Mr Mccluskey. Mr Anderson said: “Today, we are reminded the Labour Party is not always a meritocracy.”
Mr Corbyn yesterday used the formal launch of his campaign to admit that his party faces a “big challenge” after its performance in the local elections last week, when it lost nearly 400 councillors.
In a keynote speech, Mr Corbyn said that many voters are “sceptical and undecided” and “don’t know” which way to turn. He said that Labour will spell out the details of a “plan for Britain” to transform the country and change an economy which was “still rigged in favour of the rich and powerful”.
However Labour insiders say that the party’s failure to publish a list of target seats for the General Election highlights the fact it is braced for a poor result. “Really we are just shoring up our defences,” one Labour insider told the Financial Times.
There was further controversy for Mr Corbyn after a student chosen to introduce him at his local election launch quit her role with a university Labour group after posting a series of racist, anti-semitic and homophobic tweets.
Bethany Barker, who welcomed Mr Corbyn to the stage in Newark, Nottinghamshire, last month, referred to the “n----- race”, described a skull cap as a “Jew cap” and referred to another Twitter user as a “f----t”.
The student group condemned her comments.
Miss Barker said: “I’m absolutely horrified and beyond disgusted about these tweets and they are in no way representative of the views I hold now. I have no recollection of writing these tweets and I am unequivocally sorry for the shadow that has been brought over our society because of it.”