Labour Together’s 2019 general election review illustrates the mountain Labour has to climb. Our loss was a long time coming: voters in our traditional heartlands have moved away from us over the last 20 years. These deep problems were catalysed in 2019 by issues of leadership, Brexit and a manifesto not seen as credible. Labour lost all types of voters everywhere outside London.
Keir Starmer understands the challenge ahead. He’s already started reaching out, listening and understanding voters in seats we lost. Our task is to bridge the divide between our supporters and lost heartland voters who are united in their desire for big economic change rooted in their lives and local areas.
The task we now face is huge. Yet this should be mobilising for Labour, not paralysing, and be a unifying mission for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
Lucy Powell MP, Commissioner, Labour Together election review
Editor's reply
Dear Lucy
A reminder of what happens when politics goes wrong came recently when racist thugs descended on Westminster. Most of us rely on mainstream parties to listen, inspire and lead.
The Labour Together review is a bold attempt to reconnect with voters. In the meantime, Labour is very much back in the game under Sir Keir Starmer, with a front bench that is making the weather at times. All this can only result in a healthier society.
Joe Murphy, Political Editor
Put Dame Vera on Fourth Plinth
I was much saddened at the death of Dame Vera Lynn, at the age of 103. But it occurs to me that a statue of the woman who did so much to lift the spirits of others would be the ideal permanent occupant for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. She was, and indeed always will be, the epitome of a national treasure.
Robert Readman
