Neil Kinnock: Split progressive vote Labour’s biggest election threat

Neil Kinnock has warned that a split progressive vote amongst Liberal Democrat, Green and other parties is Labour’s biggest challenge come the next general election.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with LabourList, the former Labour leader said the party must focus on consolidating the broad anti-conservative vote, amid growing concerns that challenges from a selection of other political parties could split the progressive bloc.

“I’ve been saying for months past, we’ve got two dangers – the smaller one is Farage’s ability to take some Labour votes, and the big one is seepage to Liberals, nationalists, Greens and abstention. That’s where the real threat lies.”

Kinnock argued that Conservative success at elections over the past 70 years has often hinged on divisions among their opponents.

“The secret of the Tories’ dominance, certainly since the 1950s and early 1960s, has been division in the anti-conservative majority. We don’t want that to be worsened, especially now that we’ve got this division amongst the reactionary right. We should be doing our best to build and consolidate.”

READ MORE: ‘Tactical voting helped Labour to win, but it can’t rely on it for victory in 2029’

His comments come a fortnight after former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced the creation of a new left-wing political party, along with former Labour MP Zarah Sultana.

Kinnock launched a scathing attack at the new party and said: “I’ve suggested in all comradeship that Corbyn’s outfit should be called the Farage Assistance Faction, or FAF, because they must know that the only place they can get votes is from people who would otherwise vote Labour.”

He added that, under the current voting system, fragmentation among centre-left and left-wing parties pose a critical threat.

“What we’re seeing is the development of a proportional representation electorate with the first-past-the-post system – and that is really dangerous.”

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