EU referendum: LabourList readers back Andy Burnham’s call for independent Labour ‘yes’ campaign

LabourList readers back Andy Burnham’s call for Labour to run its own independent ‘yes’ campaign in the EU referendum.

The frontrunner in the leadership race said last week that the party should learn the lessons of the Scottish referendum, in which it worked alongside the Conservatives in the cross-party Better Together campaign, and keep its distance from the Tories.

63% of people who voted in our weekly survey thought that Labour should set up its own ‘yes’ campaign to stay in the EU and focus most of its energies on that. Only 16% backed the party joining a cross-party campaign.

However almost a fifth of participants think that Labour should not be in the ‘yes’ camp at all; with 17% wanting it to campaign for Britain to leave the EU. Of that 10% would rather see an independent ‘no’ campaign and 8% Labour join a cross-party campaign.

LabourList readers also agree with Burnham’s analysis that working with the Tories in the Scottish referendum contributed to Labour’s wipeout by the SNP in the general election. The nationalists took 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland, Labour just one.

Asked what role did Labour’s participation in the cross-party ‘no’ campaign play in its general election defeat, 90% thought it damaged the party. Those were split almost evenly over the significance of that damage, with 46% thinking it played a big role and 44% only a small one. 10% thought it played no role at all.

1,912 people voted in this week’s survey. Thank you to everyone who took part.