Labour have released the findings of their policy consultation on intervention in Syria with members over the weekend – claiming it shows 75% are opposed to airstrikes against ISIS.
Jeremy Corbyn sent out an email on Friday evening to members and supporters asking for their opinion on how Labour should approach the Government’s proposals for intervention in Syria. The party have today said that 107,875 people responded to the consultation, of which 64,771 were confirmed as full Labour Party members.
Of those 65,000 party members, they analysed a random sampling of 1,900 responses. These responses showed that 75% were opposed to airstrikes in Syria, 13% were in favour, and 11% undecided.
The result was released an hour before the Shadow Cabinet met a 2 o’clock to discuss the party’s position on Syria. In a recent speech, Corbyn asked “Why not give members the chance to take part in indicative online ballots on policy in between annual conferences – and give our grassroots members and supporters a real say?” This indicates that he may start using such consultations more regularly.
The consultation’s process has come in for some criticism though, with professional pollsters saying that a self-selecting process with a leading invitation (in the email Corbyn made clear he was opposed to “the bombing of Syria”) can not be trusted as a representative result.
It is also unclear what methodology was used – how the random responses were selected, and how they were analysed. With no selective options, such as ‘support’ or ‘oppose’, the answers were qualitative, and many could have been difficult to process.
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