Swathes of Labour voters still unsure of party’s position on EU poll

Nearly half of Labour voters don’t realise their party overwhelmingly wants Britain to stay in the EU, a new poll reveals.

Despite Jeremy Corbyn’s decision, relatively late, to swing behind the Remain campaign, nearly half of Labour voters wrongly thought the party was either split on the issue, or backing Brexit, or they did not know. In fact, a huge majority of Labour MPs wants Britain to vote to remain in the bloc.

More than a quarter (28 per cent) of people who backed Labour in the general election said they did not know the party’s stance on Europe, according to a poll in The Times. A further 9 per cent assumed MPs were evenly split while six per cent thought they were mostly in favour of leaving and three per cent thought they were unanimous in backing Brexit.

In reality some 215 out of Labour’s 232 MPs have come out in favour of staying in the EU.

The research will intensify pressure on Corbyn to step up his campaigning for a Remain vote in the final weeks before the June 23 vote. After months of appearing disengaged from the campaign in the autumn, Corbyn has in recent weeks made a series of interventions in support of staying in the EU, including making the “strong socialist case” for Remain and encouraging young people to register to vote by June 7.

The poll comes after John McDonnell yesterday launched his Another Europe tour which he says will campaign for “remain and reform” in the EU referendum.

The shadow Chancellor will lead a series of visits to Wolverhampton, Leeds, Leicester and Cardiff in which he aims to put Labour issues – such as tackling tax avoidance and the protection of workers’ rights – at the heart of the campaign.

“The EU referendum is about our future relationship with Europe not who is the next leader of the Tory party, which is why I think there is a positive case to be made and it’s vital young people hear this case over the personal ambitions of different Tory MPs,” McDonnell said.

“The Labour leadership will not go anywhere near the Tories project fear campaign on both sides of the debate, but instead we will continue to set out the positive case to ‘Remain and Reform’ the EU to create ‘Another Europe’ and reject Tory Brexit.

“Next month there is a serious choice before the British people, the prospect of a Tory Brexit or a Labour Remain and Reform to create Another Europe that offers greater opportunity for working people in our country and across the EU.

“One option risks leaving us more exposed to George Osborne’s mishandling of the economy from the inevitable economic shock that most economists agree would follow a Tory Brexit.

“And then there’s the progressive option of a ‘Another Europe’, whereby under the next Labour government we can reform the undemocratic aspects of the EU while using the levers of power there to clamp down on tax avoidance, protect workplace rights and stand up for British industries like steel.”