LONDON (Bywire News) - A Labour MP has claimed that people who believe the party should be left-wing are "deluded".
In a comment piece reflecting on Labour's disastrous Local Election results in The Guardian, the Barking MP, Margaret Hodge, claimed that her party's only hope of winning an election was to tack further to the right:
"Anybody who seriously thinks the solution to people voting for a party of the right is for Labour to drift to the left is, frankly, deluded. Political parties win elections by occupying the centre ground, and we must never concede that territory to the Conservatives."
Hodge, who was an ardent critic of Jeremy Corbyn during his time as leader, also urged Keir Starmer to ditch the promise he made during his leadership bid to uphold the party's left-wing policy agenda, stating:
"Voters think we have not changed nearly enough. We must accept this reality, and demonstrate our rejection of the ideology of Corbynism as well as the man."
🚨NEW: Labour MP @margarethodge says people are "deluded" if they think Labour should be a left-wing party, adding:
— Bywire News (@bywirenews) May 10, 2021
"Political parties win elections by occupying the centre ground, and we must never concede that territory to the Conservatives."
Many social media users were quick to condemn Hodge for her comments, with some pointing to the disastrous electoral performance of Change UK, The Independent Group, who ran on a Centrist platform.
Change U.K. comes to mind 😂😂 https://t.co/0VeTTRvh3q
— Gina (@Saffiya_Khan1) May 10, 2021
Whilst Labour suffered a devastating defeat in the 2019 General Election, the majority of their domestic left-wing policies polled extremely well with the general public.
A YouGov poll conducted a month before the election in November 2019 found that:
- 64% of people supported Labour's left-wing policy to increase the income tax rate on people earning over £123,000 from 45% to 50%
- 60% of people supported Labour's left-wing policy of increasing the rate of income tax for people earning over £80,000 from 40% to 45%
- 56% of people supported Labour's left-wing policy to renationalise the railways
- 54% of people supported Labour's left-wing policy to require all companies to give 1/3rd of places on the company board to workers
- 53% of people supported Labour's left-wing policy to impose a wealth tax on assets
- 50% of people supported Labour's left-wing policy to nationalise water companies
- 45% of people supported Labour's left-wing policy to nationalise gas and electric companies
Most serious commentators say that Labour's 2019 defeat - which occurred almost exclusively in Leave-voting areas - can be largely attributed to the party's adoption of a second referendum, rather than their left-wing policies.
Furthermore, polling following Labour's recent by-election defeat in Hartlepool showed the biggest reason people refused to vote for Labour was because of Keir Starmer's leadership.
Exclusive polling for @Channel4News shows that the main reason people did not vote for Labour in yesterday's Local Elections in England was because of Keir Starmer's leadership.
— Bywire News (@bywirenews) May 7, 2021
Should Jeremy Corbyn resign over this?
Labour won the Hartlepool constituency twice under Jeremy Corbyn, in both 2017 and 2019.
Yet, under Keir Starmer, Labour's vote share in the region plummeted from 38% in 2019 to just 29% - whilst the Tories' vote share skyrocketed from 29% in 2019 to a staggering 52% on Thursday.
Since becoming leader, Starmer has been widely criticised for his 'lacklustre' leadership and for repeatedly 'refusing to outline a vision' for the Labour Party.
Many party members are also unhappy that the Labour leader appears to have backtracked on numerous promises he made during the leadership election - including reneging on a good deal of the party's left-wing policies.
In addition to their defeat in Hartlepool, Starmer's Labour also suffered massive losses in the Local Elections - shedding 326 councillors, and completely losing control of 8 councils.
The party lost votes to Boris Johnson's Conservatives in large parts of their former northern heartlands, as well as losing left-wing support to the Greens in much of the south.
In the 2017 General Election, with Labour running on a platform to respect the Brexit referendum in addition to a bold left-wing domestic platform, Jeremy Corbyn's party garnered their biggest vote share swing since Clement Attlee's historic 1945 General Election victory - rising a full 10 points from 30% to 40%.
[Writing by Tom D. Rogers, editing by Jessica Miller.]