A “rag-bag” coalition with the SNP and other of parties is not the answer to the electoral challenges faced by Labour, according to the shadow housing secretary John Healey.
The left-wing Fabian Society think tank warned yesterday that the party has almost no chance of winning a majority at the next General Election.
It suggests it is currently unthinkable that the party will win enough votes to govern alone and should therefore consider calls to form an alliance with the SNP and Liberal Democrats.
But Healey said: “It’s a serious warning and quite rightly the Fabian Society say the roots of Labour’s problem pre-date Jeremy Corbyn, were there at the 2015 election and in some ways there in the 2010 election.
“These are big challenges for Labour but I do not see the answer to Labour’s challenge as being to team up with the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and a rag-bag of other parties.”
The Fabian Society’s analysis of polling and election data suggests that Labour is likely to win between 140 and 200 big city and ex-industrial constituencies on as little as 20 per cent of the vote, which would be a further retreat from the 231 seats it currently holds.
The think tank also suggests Labour should put itself in a position to appeal to both Leave and Remain voters in response to the post-Brexit political climate.
Fabian Society general secretary Andrew Harrop said: “As things stand Labour is on track to win fewer than 200 seats, whether the next election comes this year or in 2020.
“Even if Labour recovers it has almost no chance of securing a majority in a General Election, because it needs over three million more votes than the Conservatives to win.
“Labour’s aim for now should be to move forwards, not back and win enough MPs to be able to form a governing partnership with other parties.’’ Healey’s comments come after union chief Len McCluskey appeared to indicate that Corbyn could step down before the General Election if the party’s poll ratings remained “awful”.
McCluskey said Corbyn should be given the time to prove himself as Labour leader but added that the situation could change if Theresa May did not call an early election and Labour was still struggling in 2019.
Healey agreed with McCluskey’s general assessment of the polls.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Of course he is right, they are awful and the challenge now for me and the shadow cabinet and the whole of the party and Jeremy Corbyn as leader is to demonstrate that we can be a strong opposition and a convincing alternative to the Conservatives and that we can win over and win back public opinion, particularly those voters we have lost in recent years.”
Meanwhile, Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has suggested Corbyn does not consult him on issues of strategy.
Watson was asked by former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell in an interview for GQ magazine how often he discussed the party’s master plan with the leader.
Watson replied: “I am not on his strategy committee.”
Campbell then asked: “Who is then?” to which Watson said: “I don’t know”.
Campbell continued: “What? That’s incredible.”
Watson then elaborated, saying: “That is how he is going to lead.
“That second election means he is the established leader.
“I am in the NEC and in the shadow cabinet but nobody should be in any doubt it will be his manifesto.
“He will lead in developing those policies and I will support him.”
Watson also set out his belief that Corbyn would lead Labour at the next General Election.
When asked by Campbell if that was a “good thing or a bad thing”, he replied: “It doesn’t matter, that is the situation.
“I made my position clear, gave private counsel, based on the fact it was difficult to lead without the confidence of a majority of MPs, but he took a different view, the membership backed him and we have to respect that.”
Watson led failed negotiations to broker a peace deal between Corbyn and the bulk of the Parliamentary party opposed to him after a mass shadow cabinet walkout in June last year.
The pair are believed to have a sometimes strained relationship.
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