Labour has ‘no safe seats’ left and faces being crushed by Ukip and Lib Dems, senior party figures fear
The defeat in Richmond yesterday saw the party lose its deposit in a London by-election for the first time since 1909
LABOUR faces being crushed at the ballot box following the rise of Ukip and the resurgent Lib Dems, senior party figures fear.
The humiliating defeat in Richmond yesterday saw the party lose its deposit in a London by-election for the first time since 1909.
Labour insiders are warning of an electoral crisis as they lose votes to Lib Dems in pro-Remain urban southern seats and Ukip mops up support in its northern heartlands.
Chuka Umunna, Labour’s former leadership hopeful, last night admitted there were now “no safe seats”, according to .
Allies of party leader Jeremy Corbyn also admitted Brexit “unleashed a dynamic that none of us quite understood” – with voters now defining themselves as pro or anti-EU.
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One Corbyn ally told the paper: “There are metropolitan seats, in London, Manchester and Leeds, they are strongly pro-EU.
“Then equally, there are dozens and dozens of seats which are working class, where many did not vote to remain. There’s no doubt it’s difficult to balance the two.”
Clive Lewis, Labour’s shadow business secretary, made calls for electoral pacts with other parties in a bid to stop the rot.
He told Politico: “It’s quite clear that the usual political playbook parties use isn’t necessarily going to work in the situation we find ourselves in now.”