(Alamy)
3 min read
Reform UK voters are “our people” but are “pissed off” with Sir Keir Starmer’s government, Labour’s political director has said.
Claire Reynolds led a campaign strategy meeting for MPs to discuss the party’s approach to Reform in the wake of its local election drubbing by the party earlier this month.
Labour returned just 98 councillors, losing 187 seats from 2021, while also losing to Reform at the Runcorn and Helsby by-election in what was previously its 49th safest seat in the country.
At the meeting, MPs were shown private polling that indicated Farage’s Reform UK were able to mobilise habitual non-voters in Runcorn while Labour voters stayed at home.
Reynolds said: “Reform voters are not necessarily right wing. They are our people and they are pissed off.”
She insisted her “pissed off” remarks were in relation to the state of the country because of “the previous government”.
Downing Street sources said Starmer hoped to go “further and faster” in delivering in order to ease the frustration mentioned by Reynolds.
The polling also revealed immigration was high up the agenda but not the number one issue for voters, suggesting Starmer’s immigration crackdown may not have prevented defeat in Runcorn.
In remarks that will do little to calm fears that Downing Street is lacking direction, she also admitted to MPs that Labour’s vision for Britain is a “work in progress”, according to Labour MPs at the meeting.
Downing Street sources disputed the exact language used. They confirmed that Reynolds did say: “We know we have lessons to learn on the story we are telling it. The comms review in No 10 will help the new media unit find better ways of communicating with voters in a fragmented media landscape. We know we need to communicate our vision and values with EQ.”
Reynolds went on to declare that Labour must be “clearer in what our vision is and whose side we’re on”.
She also told MPs that “we needed to be better” at communicating the party’s agenda to them, something that has been raised privately in recent weeks.
This echoes voices at the top of government that told PoliticsHome the Starmer administration needs to get better at “narrating”.
One attendee went further, telling PoliticsHome: “The party needs a complete change of direction. We need to get back to the Labour people voted for.”
Echoing comments made by Starmer last weekend, Reynolds went on to tell those present that they should expect to face Reform as their “major opposition” at the next election.
Reynolds said that while the Conservatives were not yet “dead and buried”, they were “really f—ing injured”.
Reflecting on the local election results, Reynolds said Labour’s losses were “not purely about early decisions” in power, an apparent reference to unpopular policies like winter fuel cuts.
Such is the upset among some on the Labour benches that one MP told PoliticsHome: “I’m not listening to No 10 anymore. Anything they tell me, I’m doing the opposite.”
It comes as Labour also sent out an internal questionnaire to party staff, seeking feedback on the local election campaign and where there are opportunities for improvement next year as the party prepares for more local elections and those in Wales and Scotland.
Questions included how the campaign or organisation can develop and what more can be done to help staff succeed in their role.
