‘We’ll never out-Farage Farage on migration – and it’d be wrong to try’

Since Labour rode to victory at the last general election, with broad but shallow support, on the back of a vote for change, the message the public has got from our government is that many things must, in fact, stay the same – or even get worse.

The Prime Minister has said that the message he takes from these elections “is that we need to go further and we need to go faster on the change that people want to see”. It’s unclear what he means by this, but the last thing we need is more of what lost us these seats, delivered at a faster pace.

People are angry about PIP cuts

It is vital that the government does not double-down on decisions it has made that disproportionately harm working class communities and have resulted in these defeats. These policies are angering previously loyal voters and leading them to stay at home or vote for other parties. 

I was in Runcorn on election day and was struck by a man who had been Labour all his life, saying that he’s voting Reform as a protest vote, even though he hates Farage. After serious health problems, he’s now in receipt of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and has been disgusted by Labour’s proposed benefit cuts.

READ MORE: Council by council Labour gains and losses – and its position in each mayor race

PIP and Winter Fuel Payments have been raised regularly on the doorstep according to those campaigning in Runcorn and Doncaster, where we just hung on to the mayoralty and lost the council.

But I am concerned that this is not the message that No.10 will take from this defeat, that instead they will argue that the only way to counter Reform is with even harder immigration policies.

Scroll to keep reading the story below….

The government has already spent months talking tough on migrants – introducing policies to deny some refugees citizenship, filming deportations, and continuing the Conservatives’ criminalisation of those arriving by irregular means.

This performative cruelty hasn’t stopped Reform’s rise. In fact, it has probably contributed to it. We have legitimised the far right’s narrative, instead of challenging it and addressing the material problems in people’s lives. 

Labour should target the ruling class, not migrants

We will never out-Farage Farage on immigration – nor would it be morally right for us to attempt it. The point of our party is to stand up for working class people, wherever they were born.

If we tacitly endorse the same lies told by the rich and powerful – that it’s not the ruling class to blame for falling living standards and crumbling public services, but immigration – then we are bolstering their position and letting down the whole of the working class.

READ MORE: Runcorn blame game begins – why did Labour lose?

As a party, we know this isn’t true and that being ‘tough on immigration’ won’t solve people’s problems. If we pretend otherwise, we’re neglecting to offer the real solutions, while harming vulnerable human beings in the process.

Just because some of our voters switched to Reform, it does not mean that their sole, or even primary, motivation is immigration. In my 12 years as a Labour Party member, I’ve knocked on very few doors where someone has told me they have a real problem with immigrants (there have been a couple, and I can tell you now that they never have, nor ever will, vote Labour).

READ MORE: ‘Results so far say one thing: voters think change isn’t coming fast enough’

But the vast majority who raise immigration as a concern have spoken to me about not being able to get a GP appointment, a council house, or a school place for their child.

Just listening out for the word ‘immigration’ and devising inhumane policies in response is not properly listening – and it’s an insult to people’s fundamental decency. 

Labour must highlight the real causes of national decline

Research by Hope Not Hate shows that Reform voters are characterised by deep economic and political pessimism, and a distrust in the political process. This is what we should aim to counter by calling out the real causes of our national decline and showing that Labour can deliver improvements in people’s lives.

Most Reform voters also support progressive policies on wealth redistribution, improving workers’ rights, and nationalisation in some sectors, which are also popular with our base. These are the areas we should be focusing on. On workers’ rights, for example, Labour has made a good start and every Reform MP voting against our Employment Rights Bill shows that there is clear blue water between us.

Subscribe here to our daily newsletter roundup of all things Labour – and follow us on  Bluesky, WhatsApp, Threads, X or Facebook.

We also have a lot to lose elsewhere by chasing the far right on immigration. The two party system as we know it is collapsing. The idea that those on the left have nowhere else to go simply doesn’t hold up. We are losing votes and seats to the Greens and the Lib Dems, with Reform now also slipping through the middle.

Beyond it being morally indefensible, we cannot afford to alienate a core part of our coalition by pursuing anti-migrant policies: Persuasion UK finds that we risk losing twice as many MPs from progressive voters deserting us than those switching to Reform.

It is clear that if we do not change our strategy, which simply isn’t working, we risk a Reform-led government in the next general election. No matter which political tendency you come from in our party, we all agree that we cannot let that happen.

While today’s results are bleak, Labour’s position is recoverable, but we need to set out a unifying vision for the country. We need to deliver the change that people voted for – reverse worsening living standards, growing poverty and widening inequality. 

Instead of doubling-down, imagine the Prime Minister standing at the dispatch box on Tuesday, scrapping the proposed disability benefit cuts and increasing taxes on the super rich and multinational companies exploiting people and the planet.

These two policies would signal a real change in direction and act as the building blocks for a different story about who and what this Labour government is for. Our party needs to write that story, and fast.

Read more on the 2025 local elections:

Results on the day

Analysis of the 2025 election results

• Starmer: ‘Labour must go further and faster to deliver after Runcorn defeat’
• Runcorn blame game begins – why did Labour lose?
• ‘Labour has lost in Runcorn – here are the eight things the party should do now‘
• MPs who could lose their seat on Runcorn by-election swing to Reform
• ‘Results so far say one thing: voters think change isn’t coming fast enough’
• Three ways to measure Labour’s success tonight
• ‘Uxbridgitis: If election results are grim, let’s not learn the wrong lessons again’
• Where’s Keir? PM barely features in Labour party election broadcasts for the locals
• The meme elections: Labour’s social media pivot to take fight to Farage

LabourList’s on-the-ground reports from the campaign

• Hull and East Yorkshire: Labour candidate spars with Reform’s boxing star in UK’s most disillusioned city
• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Nik Johnson on why he’s standing down and Anna Smith on knife-edge Labour-Tory fight to replace him
• West of England: Tory and Green threats, Dan Norris and low voter awareness
• Lancashire: Long shadow of Gaza looms over key battleground

Inside the Runcorn campaign

• Mood on the doorstep: Labour’s last push for Tory voters to keep out Reform
• At least 150 Labour MPs visit – but Keir Starmer ain’t one
• Karen Shore interview: Labour candidate on Reform, the NHS and closing asylum hotels
• Runcorn poll: One in ten Labour voters expected to back Reform

• SHARE: If you have anything to share that we should be looking into or publishing about this story – or any other topic involving Labour– contact us (strictly anonymously if you wish) at [email protected].
• SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to LabourList’s morning email here for the best briefing on everything Labour, every weekday morning.
• DONATE: If you value our work, please chip in a few pounds a week and become one of our supporters, helping sustain and expand our coverage.
• PARTNER: If you or your organisation might be interested in partnering with us on sponsored events or projects, email [email protected].
• ADVERTISE: If your organisation would like to advertise or run sponsored pieces on LabourList‘s daily newsletter or website, contact our exclusive ad partners Total Politics at [email protected].