Labour’s National Campaign Coordinator has announced he is initiating the “next phase” of the party’s election preparations just days after a YouGov poll sparked wipeout fears among Tories.
This afternoon, Pat McFadden wrote to all Labour’s election candidates gearing them up for the “next phase” of the long election campaign.
He also published a new Labour “campaigning bible” to help activists and candidates put the party’s policy offer forward “with pride and confidence”.
Labour’s Pat McFadden said: “While Tory MPs are jumping ship, many Tory voters are asking what the point of a Tory Party is if it can no longer run the economy or deliver on its promises.
“Time after time, the Prime Minister’s pledges have failed and this isn’t just a pattern for this Prime Minister – it goes back over the Tories’ fourteen years in power.”
While Labour is pinning its hopes on a message around Tory failure, the Conservatives have already hit back at Labour’s plans.
Deputy Tory chairman Craig Tracey MP told the Express that Labour’s new election phase is “typical Labour, sniping from the sidelines with no substance”.
He said: “Their new document says they want to show what Labour has to offer, but they can’t say what that means because they don’t have a plan for the country.
“Only the Prime Minister and his Conservative government have a plan to deliver a brighter future.”
Labour’s will be hoping their announcement sparks further fear among Tories, coming just days after a landmark poll set out the nightmare facing Rishi Sunak at the General Election.
YouGov’s MRP poll of 14,000 voters found that Labour is on course for a landslide majority of 120 – 40 more than Boris Johnson won in 2019.
The poll also predicted 196 Tory losses, the worst number of constituency losses by any party since 1906.
Speaking at the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs yesterday, the party’s top election advisor Isaac Levido argued the publishers of the poll – among them Lord Frost – had set out to undermine the party and the Government.
Mr Levido said Lord Frost and his Conservative Britain Alliance “are more interested in what happens after the election rather than fighting it”.
He issued a rallying cry, saying: “It’s time to be serious.”
He said: “Let me be clear. Divided parties fail. I am fighting to win this election, and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe it was possible. We all need to be fighting to win this election.”
While the senior strategist did not go into granular detail about what seats may be lost at the election, he walked the 120-or-so attendees through the key dividing lines the Tories will exploit to take the fight to Labour.
Mr Levido argued voters “do not want Starmer.” He added: “They are looking for reasons to vote for use. We must not give them any more reasons not to.”
