Brexit is Putting Political Parties on Notice: the Labour Party crashes to fourth in YouGov poll for first time as frontbencher admits voters are fleeing party, Ann Widdecombe's European Parliament Maiden Speech tells you everything you need to know in under two minutes about the EU, Labour must back Brexit to move forward, no more fence sitting, no more wrong decisions

Dear All

Under normal circumstances in politics and with the additional chaos of Brexit for the UK Government, the Labour Party should in theory be riding high in the polls. The party should be in prime position to be seen as a government in waiting.

The Brexit issue has left the Labour Party in a dreadful state, sitting on the fence with the additional signals of ‘wink wink, we are actually remianers guv’ see Labour slumps to 18 points ina new poll. Ironically some people keen to see Jeremy Corbyn lose the leadership and any future Westminster election are urging him to swing party behind campaign to Remain in EU.

If there was a ‘nail in the coffin’ for the Labour Party which would speel electoral defeat it is swinging the party behind a campaign to Remain in EU. Brexit is now so much a polarizing issue within the party that only by following the decision made in 2016 can the party have a credible position.

If you don’t support democracy, and the verdict of the people, the question must be asked; who do you really represent as a Political Party? The EU is anti worker, anti country and after the sham of recent internal EU elections to change the key player, the anti democracy tag also could be added to the rest of the mix.

Nationally in the UK according to a YouGov poll, the Labour Party is sitting in fourth place.  We also have a shadow cabinet member admitted supporters are deserting the party because of its fence-sitting on Brexit.

The direction of travel for the UK is Brexit.

Jon Ashworth, the Shadow Health Secretary, said of the result:

"I don't believe that would be the result at a general election.

He added:

“If that was a result at a general election, it would be devastating for the Labour Party."

One thing that Labour’s Phil Wilson, a leading supporter of the People’s Vote campaign said:

“Day after day, poll after poll shows the dismay among voters over Labour’s failure to offer a clear and principled position backing a final say referendum. So long as the doubt and confusion continues over whether it will support a final say on any Brexit outcome - and on whether it will campaign to stay in the EU - Labour will continue to shed votes to parties like the Liberal Democrats”.

There is nothing principled about a betrayal of the 2016 vote; in fact betrayal of that vote would be a disaster for the Labour Party, much like a tsunami hitting a coastline. The heartlands of the North, key to a Labour return would be in extreme danger of falling to the Brexit Party. And now matter how the Labour Party juggles the numbers, the notion of a hung parliament is so real that it puts any deal with Labour and anyone else as pretty much a non starter.

The Brexit Party won’t do a deal, the DUP won’t do a deal and the SNP, all the want is to get Corbyn dependent on their votes to force through another indyref on their timetable. On the other side, the Conservatives have a good chance of DUP support, and depending on how things pan out for Brexit, the Brexit Party as a stop gap.

Although the numbers might seem tight, there are a lot of clear dividing lines, the Conservatives sit on 24 per cent from last week which might mean people are warming to a Boris Johnson premiership. The Brexit Party was up one point on 23 per cent and the Liberal Democrats also put on one point to 20 per cent. The Labour Party is on 18 per cent, but they also have pluses to draw on in terms of organizational matters in running campaigns nationally which could work in their favour.

But to deny Brexit isn’t one of them.

The poll at 18 per cent is bad; it cannot be glossed over, the lowest since May 2009 when Gordon Brown's Government was battling the financial crash.

But it should be noted, it can get worse.

Unite's Len McCluskey, want the party to continue to respect the 2016 Brexit result and are fearful if they back Remain, they will lose votes in Labour heartlands. One thing that the Labour Party needs to focus on is to protect their core vote. An example of what happens when you don’t can be seen by the Scottish example which spans more than a decade. Senior party figures like Tom Watson, Emily Thornberry and Keir Starmer want Mr Corbyn to swing the party behind the position adopted last month by the Scottish Labour Party.

Scottish Labour is the fifth party in Scotland after the Euro 2019 election with a vote share of 9.5%.

Finally, ask yourself this, Brexit goes through, the UK Government makes a success of Global UK and Brexit goes thorough where does this leave the Labour Party politically?  Where does this leave the party in the forthcoming 2022 election? Where does this the Scottish Party in the Holyrood election of 2021? Of course you have to account for the SNP factor in Scotland. Elections are about winners and losers, and as someone who has seen plenty of them, winning feels so much better.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University