Express & Star

Pat McFadden MP in warning over Labour future after election meltdown

Pat McFadden has warned that Labour is failing to face up to the scale of the changes needed in order to come back from its disastrous general election performance.

Published
Pat McFadden saw his majority fall from 8,514 to 1,235 at December's general election

The Wolverhampton South East MP held onto his seat by the skin of his teeth in December's poll, as his party slumped to its worst election defeat in 85 years, losing 60 seats to the Tories.

But he says the prospects for the future continue to look bleak, with too many in the party remaining tied to Jeremy Corbyn's world view.

It comes as a Lords' report into Labour's election defeat, released today, concluded that voters found the party to "incompetent", with Mr Corbyn considered "weak" and "untrustworthy".

The conclusion flies in the face of Labour's official review of the election, which exonerated Mr Corbyn and his radical policies, claiming he had been a victim of character assassination and blaming the result on Brexit.

Mr McFadden said Labour needed to be prepared to learn from the election defeat, saying anything else would be "a dereliction of duty to the voters".

"Certainly Brexit was a big issue and people were frustrated with years of delays and parliamentary paralysis," he said.

"But so too was the Labour leadership and the view of the world represented by Jeremy Corbyn.

"Anyone who spent any time knocking doors and speaking to voters knows that many voters did not see Jeremy Corbyn as a capable leader and indeed did not think he really believed in the country he was trying to lead.

"In particular they thought he was on the wrong side of patriotism and national security. Getting these issues right is a basic condition of political leadership."

Mr McFadden is backing Sir Keir Starmer in the Labour leadership race, having initially supported Birmingham MP Jess Phillips. He said that whoever wins, his party needs "a new direction".

"It’s an illusion to think we can present the same programme with a different face and voice," the former Minister added.

"Of course you can poll individual policies and ask people if they support them, but that is not how manifestos or general elections work.

"People look at parties in the round and ask, 'is this whole thing credible? Is this deliverable', and on that score Labour failed.

"It’s not radical to say 'yes' to every interest group that comes knocking on your door. True radicalism comes with having the discipline to say 'no' as well as yes and having a sense of priorities about what you will do.

"My concern is that Labour is not yet facing up to the scale of change needed – in world view, in policy and in culture. Only if we do that will we have a chance of coming back from such a terrible defeat."

A major new report, published by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, urged Labour to "smell the coffee" and face up to the reasons why so many supporters deserted the party in December.

He said: "As far as many of these former supporters were concerned, then, the Labour Party they rejected could not be trusted with the public finances, looked down on people who disagreed with it, was too left-wing, failed to understand or even listen to the people it was supposed to represent, was incompetent, appallingly divided, had no coherent priorities, did not understand aspiration or where prosperity comes from, disapproved of their values and treated them like fools."

The former Tory chairman said he had conducted the research because the country "needs strong opposition", and that he wanted Labour to reclaim its role as "a great force for decency".