Blue Labour Statement on the Election

The election results were devastating for our party. That we were defeated so heavily and lost so many of our heartland seats to the Tories after a decade of austerity has shaken us all to the core.

It is clear that our party needs a sharp change in direction. Serious questions need to be asked about why so many working-class communities that had supported Labour since time immemorial decided to turn against us.

To that end, a full and frank debate must now take place right across the party, and we must learn the lessons of 12 December 2019.

Make no mistake, this was a defeat for all of us. In the debate that will follow, there must be no gloating by those of us within the party who foresaw this catastrophe. Equally, there can be no hiding place for those who shaped the strategy that failed so badly. All sections of the party must come together and engage in a comradely but honest discussion about what went wrong and why.

Blue Labour is about building relationships and consensus. We understand that the Labour party is only successful when it can win the support of a broad section of the electorate. But our primary task now must be to reconnect with our lost working-class supporters, in all their plurality, without whom our party is nothing. Blue Labour believes that task can only be fulfilled if Labour shows itself to be a patriotic, communitarian, one-nation party rooted among working-class people and which understands the importance of work, family and place in their lives.

We welcome the thousands who have started following us on social media since the election. We believe this demonstrates a real interest in our ideas. We intend to place ourselves at the heart of the debate in the Labour party in the coming weeks and months.