Senior Labour MPs to speak in party’s heartlands to combat Ukip electoral threat

Jeremy Corbyn’s key allies in Westminster are set to take part in a series of events in Labour’s heartlands where Ukip represents a serious threat to the party.

John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, and Diane Abbott, the Shadow Home Secretary, are among the senior Labour MPs to appear at the events in marginal constituencies, starting in Sunderland on 1 April.

Clive Lewis and Rachael Maskell, who both recently resigned from the shadow Cabinet, are also set to appear at the events arranged by The World Transformed – an organisation that has grown out of Momentum, the grassroots group of activists behind Mr Corbyn’s election and re-election as Labour leader.

The events will launch at the beginning of April and aim to “bring together Leave and Remain voters, make sense of the Brexit negotiations and discuss how voters take back control from economic elites and establishment politicians”.

Events will also be held in Barnsley, Bradford, Plymouth and Dagenham. At the 2015 general election Ukip came second in the northern seat of Barnsley with 22 per cent of the vote – a 17 per cent increase on their previous vote share. In the Dagenham and Rainham constituency the party’s candidate Peter Harris came second in the contest, behind Labour’s Jon Cruddas by 4,980 votes.

It comes as Labour faces a serious challenge to its Stoke-on-Trent Central seat on 23 February,, following the resignation of Tristram Hunt to become the next director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. At the 2015 general election Mr Hunt, the former shadow Education Secretary and well-known critic of the Labour leader, held onto the seat with a majority of 5,179. Ukip came second in the constituency, just 33 votes ahead of the Conservatives.

Just last week Mr Lewis, the former Shadow Business Secretary, warned his constituents that Labour was “hanging on by its fingernails to keep Ukip at bay”. He added that if Mr Nuttall emerged victorious in Stoke then the “politics of Trump” in Westminster could have a “domino effect”.

Rachael Maskell, the former shadow Environment Secretary, who resigned from her post after defying a three-line whip on the Brexit bill, will also speak at the events arranged by the left-wing activists. “The overriding cry from the EU referendum was that people wanted more control over the lives they lead and those who represent them in our political institutions,” she said.

“The Government, in refusing to listen to the needs people have, highlights the need for people across every community to get their voice heard and make their politicians work for them. The debate should not be about the political institutions but the way those who hold office engage and respond and most importantly empower people in their community to have a voice.”

One organiser at Take Back Control, Steve Hansom, from Sunderland, said: “Paul Nuttall may wear a flat cap and speak with a Scouse accent, but that doesn’t mean he’s got your back. He is no different to Farage, who is no different to May – just another politician who directs anger and frustration at the most vulnerable instead of going after those at the top. I desperately want to see a better future for Sunderland, one with jobs, homes and a stronger community.”

Another organiser, Charlie Clarke, added that the “establishment have peddled the idea that every Remain voter is part of a croissant-munching metropolitan elite while every Leave voter is racist, xenophobic and backwards”.

“These stereotypes are divisive, poisonous and flat out untrue. Instead of letting our vote define us and divide us, we have to recognise the large amount of common ground the majority of people in this country share. Worries about housing, pay and the loss of community. Aspirations for a future better than that of our parents. The sense that our lives are always at the whim of somebody else. The Brexit negotiations mean a radically altered future for Britain. They mean a time of instability and change. Now is when the future will be born. Now is the moment we must fight for something better.”