Following a review of the Labour party’s 2019 election defeat, it has been revealed that a new leader and the end of Brexit as a key election issue will not be enough for the party to win back power.
The Labour Together project, has said that the party has a "mountain to climb" following their worst defeat since 1935. They continue that the defeat had been a "long time coming" and that deep-seated changes were needed. The party will have been out of power for 14 years by the next election.
According to the report, compiled for the most part, prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, the "disunity and division within our party over time has badly damaged our electoral fortunes".
The commissioners of the review continued that it would "be a mistake to believe that a different leader, with Brexit no longer the defining issue, would in itself be sufficient to change Labour's electoral fortunes".
It is the belief of those who authored the report that the party’s inability to reflect upon previous defeats in effect "sowed the seeds for our failure in 2019".
Continuing, it suggested the party "could fall further, unless it faces up to the disconnect between the party and the public and is realistic about the scale of the political and organisational task ahead".
The party also needs to "build a winning coalition of voters which spans generations, geographies and outlooks", while "inspiring more younger voters".
The report is contrary to the words of the previous leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who said that Labour "won the argument" at the December election, but that media bias was a central factor in the party’s defeat.
