You shouldn’t be a Labour MP if you voted for May’s deal, say LabourList readers

LabourList readers believe that MPs who voted for Theresa May’s deal do not deserve to be Labour, our latest survey has found.

On Friday, Theresa May put her UK-EU withdrawal agreement to a third vote in the House of Commons. It was defeated again, still by a significant margin, but five Labour MPs voted in favour of the deal.

Caroline Flint, John Mann, Jim Fitzpatrick, Rosie Cooper and Kevin Barron all joined Conservatives in supporting the Prime Minister. (Dennis Skinner and Ronnie Campbell abstained on the vote.)

65% of 3,954 respondents to our survey agreed with Momentum chair Jon Lansman’s comments, tweeted on the morning of the vote, that any MPs voting for the deal did not deserve to be representatives of the party. 35% disagreed with that view.

Labour Brexit rebels are likely to face deselection attempts by their local parties, with Jim Fitzpatrick having already been threatened with a vote of no confidence.

LabourList readers also say party discipline within Labour should be consistently enforced – with shadow cabinet members facing consequences for their rebellions too.

In the first part of the ‘indicative votes’ process on Wednesday, Labour whipped in favour of proposals for its alternative Brexit plan, May’s deal plus customs union membership and a motion tabled by Margaret Beckett calling for a “confirmatory public vote” on “any” deal.

Although former shadow housing minister Melanie Onn resigned to vote against the confirmatory referendum, three frontbench MPs – Andrew Gwynne, Jon Trickett and Ian Lavery – abstained on the motion.

They have faced no disciplinary action over their defiance of the Labour whip, but a majority of our readers – almost 54% – said that those members of Jeremy Corbyn’s team should have been disciplined.

Asked which potential Tory leadership contenders would be easiest for the Labour leader to beat in a general election, LabourList readers picked Esther McVey as the weakest Conservative candidate.

With May still failing to get her deal through parliament after multiple attempts, Tory MPs have been manoeuvring to oust their leader and a contest could be imminent. The chances of an early general election are also higher than ever.

Choosing from a selection of Conservatives thought to be keen to throw their hats into the ring, 15% of respondents selected McVey as the easiest opponent for Corbyn to win against, while outwardly ambitious Boris Johnson came next with 13.6%.

Matt Hancock and Amber Rudd, who both supported the Remain campaign in 2016, came bottom of the list, suggesting that LabourList readers see them as more of a threat to Labour’s chances of winning the next election.

An overwhelming majority of LabourList readers – 84% – voted to remain in the 2016 EU referendum, and almost 20% attended the ‘Put it to the People’ march on 23rd March.

Giving a good idea of the position of our readership on the EU, only 13% said they voted to leave. Of the 3,954 respondents, 769 joined the most recent march in favour of another referendum.

1. How did you vote in the 2016 EU referendum?

1. Remain – 84.2% (3,329)
2. Leave – 12.8% (505)
3. Didn’t vote/spoilt ballot – 3.0% (120)

2. Did you attend the ‘Put it to the People’ march last weekend?

1. No – 80.6% (3,185)
2. Yes – 19.4% (769)

3. Three frontbench Labour MPs – Andrew Gwynne, Jon Trickett and party chair Ian Lavery – defied the whip to abstain on a motion for another referendum this week. Should they have been disciplined?

1. Yes – 53.6% (2,119)
2. No – 46.4% (1,835)

4. Momentum chair Jon Lansman has said that anyone who voted for Theresa May’s deal on Friday does not deserve to be a Labour MP. Do you agree?

1. Yes – 64.8% (2,564)
2. No – 35.2% (1,390)

5. Which of these potential Tory leadership contenders do you think would be easiest for Jeremy Corbyn to win against in a general election?

1. Esther McVey – 15.1% (596)
2. Boris Johnson – 13.6% (538)
3. Andrea Leadsom – 11.7% (463)
4. Gavin Williamson – 11.2% (444)
5. Liz Truss – 9.7% (382)
6. Michael Gove – 8.4% (331)
7. David Davis – 6.4% (254)
8. Jeremy Hunt – 6.0% (239)
9. Dominic Raab – 5.5% (217)
10. Sajid Javid – 3.3% (129)
11. Penny Mordaunt – 3.2% (126)
12. Matt Hancock – 3.1% (123)
13. Amber Rudd – 2.8% (112)

The survey was open from 8.15pm on Friday 29th March until 8pm on Sunday 31st March. Thank you to all 3,954 readers who took part.