The EU referendum showed that UKIP is now the biggest threat to Labour

For a long time now commentators and Labour figures have regularly remarked on the growing cultural and political distance between the Labour Party and the core Labour vote, particularly outside London. This fact was clearly demonstrated in the EU referendum, where Labour heartlands overwhelmingly rejected Labour’s stance on EU membership and all things associated with it.  This should serve as an immediate and urgent wake up call to the Labour Party.

During the referendum campaign I served as General Secretary of Labour Leave- the Labour campaign to leave the European Union. Like all campaigns on the centre-left we struggled to get media attention due to the “blue on blue” narrative that the press wanted to push. We didn’t have the infrastructure that the Labour Remain campaign enjoyed, we didn’t have the data or the millions of volunteers. But the Labour Leave campaign did win Labour voters over for a “Leave” vote and our 10 MPs now represent just over 3.5 million Labour voters.

Labour’s In campaign, led by Jeremy Corbyn and Alan Johnson, did manage to convince two thirds of Labour voters to support a Remain vote. But, this vote was heavily concentrated in the more affluent Labour constituencies, as well as in London. The campaign failed to understand the concerns of less affluent Labour voters who have seen their communities change, who have seen wages depressed as a result of open door immigration, and who felt a huge disconnect between elites in Westminster and in Brussels. We are now in a situation where at present, Labour does not speak for those traditional Labour voters.

In the coming weeks, I am absolutely confident that Labour grandees will pronounce that the reason the UK voted to leave the EU was due to the fact that Labour didn’t manage to get its pro-EU stance out to voters and that its message wasn’t strong enough. But I say No.

Voters heard the message loud and clear – but they rejected it on referendum day. We do not need more of the status quo on the question of EU membership, on our approach to immigration and on dealing with the concerns of working class Labour voters. We need a fundamental change and we need it now.

Every Labour MP, councillor and party activist knows that Labour is leaking votes to UKIP like water running through a sieve. We talk about it in meetings; we hold seminars and fringes at conferences where we talk to ourselves about this problem. Articles are written and reports are commissioned. But, when it comes to developing policy and a narrative to address these voters concerns and to win them back, we do the opposite. We lecture voters on how UKIP is a far-right party, on how they don’t have the interests of working people at heart, we try to reach out to them in abstract language focused on values over things that they actually understand and worry about. When Labour members do raise these issues they are called reactionary, or they are sneered at.  This has to change.

UKIP has a national organisation and it has considerable resource. Its members are absolutely committed. Its voters are loyal. It is also very ambitious. It looks as though UKIP is now here to stay. Their leadership election could see a candidate elected that has a very strong appeal to those working class areas in the Midlands, south Essex and north Kent, in south Wales, the North East, and the East Midlands and in East London. UKIP, as I have always maintained is now the biggest threat to the Labour Party and we ignore this threat at our peril.  If we as a party do not urgently address this problem,  at the next general election we will see UKIP gains at Labour’s expense.

Labour Leave is going to continue as a campaign within the Labour movement. With 120,000 supporters signed up we are one of the biggest Labour grassroots campaigns. We have a reach into communities who feel Labour no longer represents them and we have an understanding of their concerns and their aspirations. We will be campaigning within the party to try and get policy changes that reflect working class concerns. Some of those messages will be tough for the Labour Party to hear, some of them will be strongly opposed – particularly on immigration, patriotism, welfare, community and culture. But ultimately, if the Labour Party listens it will win those voters back and go on to form a government that all Labour voters want and that the country so desperately needs.

Brendan Chilton was General Secretary of the Labour Leave campaign