28 November 2019 | UK NEWS
It was understood in Westminster this morning that the Labour Party has altered its strategy for the final two weeks of the General Election campaign. The party will now target Leave-voting constituencies in particular in a bid to explain the nature of the Brexit deal that Jeremy Corbyn would like to re-negotiate with the European Union.
The move comes amid reports from Labour insiders that the party has taken heed of recent polling and come to the conclusion that it was highly unlikely to win the General Election – or even just avoid haemorrhaging seats – unless it changed direction.
It is understood that Labour had previously assumed they would face a very significant electoral threat from the Liberal Democrats, although this has thus far failed to materialise in pre-election polling. Insiders also say that the activists on the doorstep earlier in the campaign had underestimated the extent to which traditional Labour voters were planning to vote Conservative for this election.
Speaking of the Liberal Democrats, they too are understood to have changed tack this week, having realised that their former position of revoking Article 50 without a democratic vote was in fact alienating voters. Party sources have stated that this remains their position should they win a majority in Parliament, but that since they have already conceded this is highly unlikely, their position with voters on the doorstep will now be to swing behind a second referendum that includes an option to Remain.
Returning to Labour, whereas the party had previously attempted to frame this election as being about more than just Brexit, it will now acknowledge that Britain’s continued membership of the EU is a very active issue in voters’ minds. Accordingly, Jeremy Corbyn and Ian Lavery (the Party Chairman, who backs leaving the EU with a deal) will now be touring Brexit-backing seats in a bid to set out the reasoning behind Labour’s approach to Brexit. They will hope that this clarifies the issue for traditional Labour voters, emphasising their desire to “protect workers’ rights”.
It is also understood that Shadow Cabinet members who prefer leaving the European Union with a deal to remaining a member of it will be given a higher profile in these last two weeks of the election campaign. We at Wolves note that there is little evidence emanating from Momentum thus far that reflects this change in direction from the party’s official leadership.
We will bring you further insights as to the effectiveness of this change in approach from Labour as they come in.
