Labour should distance itself from ‘cancel culture’ to win back Red Wall, says report
Labour should distance itself from “cancel culture” to win back seats in the so called Red Wall, a report has said.
The report on how to win back constituencies lost in the 2019 General Election was put together by a group of Labour MPs who have called themselves Renaissance. It is chaired by Stephen Kinnock, who represents Aberavon.
The study of its former voters said the party should err on the side of free speech” to win the next election, and says it should focus on re-establishing its core identity as the party of working people instead of focusing on culture issues.
It is based on extended interviews with 60 former Labour voters in seats such as Wrexham, Don Valley, and Stoke Central, and says that Labour attacks on Tory austerity and the privatisation of NHS services have failed to cut through.
It suggested that instead of announcing specific policies, it should focus more on building a brand identity as the party of good jobs.
The report claimed that it was a mistake to “caricature” Labour voters in the Red Wall as racists, homophobes and misogynists.
It said: “There were only a handful of criticisms of immigrants or foreigners in our conversations, and around half of these came from ethnic minority participants. There are of course pockets of racism in British society, but Britain is not a racist country.”
‘Culture wars’
It recommended that the party’s leader in Westminster Keir Starmer avoid what it described as the “distractions of the culture wars and focus on questions for the future rather than the past”.
“Err on the side of free speech and open debate — and do not become associated with cancel culture,”
According to Renaissance, Labour has become trapped in a “cycle of cynicism” where voters just don’t believe its new policy announcements are credible.
Kinnock Shadow Minister for Asia and the Pacific told The Times: “Labour’s core identity as the natural home for working people has not always been at the front of our communications . . . Keir is rightly addressing this issue by relentlessly emphasising that Labour is the party of work and good jobs.”
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perhaps if Labour started attacking the tories and holding them to account for the disastrous last 15 years it might help, oh! and kick all the red tories out of the party,
Labour do attack the Tories, though I suspect you choose to ignore that fact because it’s not convenient for your own agenda.
ha ha ha ha, sure they do, Starmer and the rest of westminster Labour are an embarrassment.
Yet on a council level they are in cahoots with each other especially in Scotland where their small minded unionist interests over the interests of their constituents.
Labour have allowed the tories to push through their most heinous policies by abstaining even when it damaged the lives of their own constituents. Their leader is weak and he is part of the establishment that the tories represent. Imagine being a party that stood for the poor and underprivileged that now has a sir as its leader who is a massive sycophant towards the royals. Remember that “Britain First” rubbish they were peddling as a policy not long after Jo Cox was murdered. They actually had the audacity to use the same two words that her killer used before… Read more »
At last the coffee is finally being smelt and the boy has spotted the emperor with no clothes.
The Labour Party in wales 🏴 have got to stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales 🏴 it’s time for a new wales 🏴
Do you ever get tired of copy-pasting the same nonsense comment on every article, Grayham?
People like the Kinnocks are a disgrace to wales 🏴 the Kinnocks have made millions of pounds from politics and done nothing for wales 🏴 Chris Bryant have been a disgrace to the people of the Rhondda but people in wales 🏴 are still voting for this party’s that’s lett wales 🏴 down badly we in wales have got to stop being little Englanders and be proud to be welsh start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales 🏴 kick all English party’s out of wales that’s the Tories Labour and all Brexit party’s it’s time for a… Read more »
I’m not a fan of correcting spelling in posts but as you post this several times a day, can I point out that it’s “parties” not “party’s”. Appreciate that Welsh may be your first language so hope you take the friendly advice in the spirit it was intended.