Starmer won targeting Red Wall voters. Now even their MPs rebel on winter fuel

Targeting a particular kind of Red Wall voter was a key part of Labour’s strategy going into the 2024 election, from embracing the Union Jack to talking tough on defence, immigration and Brexit.

Labour won back swathes of seats it had recently lost in once-solid heartlands, and many of the newly elected MPs arguably owe much of their success to Keir Starmer’s rebranding of the party.

Their public interventions criticising the government are therefore particularly significant, and have been few and far between since the general election.

Late on Tuesday night their formal caucus broke ranks however, after assembling in Parliament as MPs returned. They issued a statement calling for a rethink of Labour’s position on issues such as the winter fuel allowance – warning it is essential to avoid an “existential crisis” at the next general election.

In a statement, the Labour Red Wall Group said that voters in red wall areas had told the party “loudly and clearly that we have not met their expectations” and said that the government’s messaging that it will go further and faster on the Plan for Change had “fallen on deaf ears”.

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While praising the Prime Minister’s strong leadership on the international stage, the group called for Starmer to mirror that same approach domestically and said: “Responding to the issues raised by our constituents, including on winter fuel, isn’t weak – it takes us to a position of strength.

“The demands raised by new MPs from post-industrial towns where infrastructure is poor with years of underinvestment must be taken off the too-difficult-to-do list. Break away from Treasury orthodoxy, otherwise we will never get the investment we desperately need.”

The Red Wall, Group, understood to represent more than 40 backbench Labour MPs in the Midlands and north of England, also demanded that the government improve its messaging to “articulate our values in the language that resonates and is heard”.

“Labour cannot afford to lose the red wall again as it reopens the route to a future of opposition and an existential crisis. Without red wall communities, we are not the Labour Party.

“The government has to act now before it’s too late.”

Statement from the Red Wall Group of Labour MPs following the local elections pic.twitter.com/RKgJbhmU6z

— LabourRedWallGroup (@RedWallGroup) May 6, 2025

Bassetlaw MP Jo White, convenor of the group, took to social media after the statement was published and said: “We need to break the disconnect between Westminster and areas like mine.

“Responding to the issues raised by our constituents, including on winter fuel, will be a good start.”

Several other Red Wall MPs have shared the statement amid division in the party over how best to respond to last week’s local election results, which saw Labour lose two-thirds of the seats it was defending.

Leigh and Atherton MP Jo Platt said: “Trust has to be earned – and right now, too many people still feel let down. If we ask the public to believe in our promise to serve them, we must show that we’re listening.”

Connor Naismith, MP for Crewe and Nantwich, said voters in towns like his are “desperate for change” but have been let down time and time again.

“It must be this Labour government that delivers real change, but that means a reset and a reconnection. That means better public transport in our local area, fewer boarded up shops, good, secure well-paid jobs in our towns, and a sense that we live in a country which is fair, where everyone is equal under the law.”

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