Sizeable number of LabourList readers concerned about entryism and a Labour split

Some Labour MPs and commentators expressed concern over the week that people who do not share Labour’s values might vote in the leadership election. Just this week MP John Mann wrote a piece for LabourList outlining why he thought this might be a problem. LabourList columnist Luke Akehurst has also argued that there is not large scale entryism. As of the weekend, Labour had only rejected around 30 new members and supporters.

What do LabourList readers think? Of those who took our survey this week, most agree with Akehurst – 54% aren’t worried about people who don’t share Labour values voting in the election.

Yet a very large minority, 42% of those surveyed, do have concerns about the issue. Only 4% say they don’t know.

There have been rumours of a possible party rupture in the event of a Jeremy Corbyn victory, with Labour donor John Mills speaking publicly about this possibility last week. Some now even argue that the party could split regardless of the election’s outcome.

Though two thirds of those who took part in our survey do not see this as a likely scenario, 28% believe it is somewhat or very likely, suggesting that some people are taking the idea of an SDP-style split very seriously. The results were:

Somewhat unlikely 37%, Very unlikely 28%, Somewhat likely 20%, Very likely 8%, Don’t know 7%

Finally, we asked LabourList readers how they rated the party’s performance in this year’s general election. Given that polling has found that Labour supporters are not necessarily looking for a leader who they would consider a viable election winner, it is worth seeing how people viewed May’s results. While the vast majority, 82%, think Labour performed poorly or very poorly, 16% of respondents thought that it had been a good election for the party – and 1% think it was very good.

Poor 49%, Very poor 33%, Good 16%, Don’t know 1%, Very good 1%

1,870 people voted in this week’s survey. Thankyou to everyone who took part.