By Ben Kerrigan-
The Labour party’s promise to renegotiate Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal and then put it to a referendum vote alongside the option of remaining in the EU has been blamed for embarrassing defeat of the party in the Uk elections.
That strategy was criticised by party chairman Ian Lavery, who said it had led voters in traditional Labour seats to believe it was “a Remain party”. This means voters who were inclined towards Brexit switched loyalties and voted for Boris Johnson to be put in power.
“They believe they should have been listened to – and they think that the Labour party have totally reneged on the result,” he said.
But he added the strategy was not “Jeremy Corbyn’s decision”, as it had been approved by delegates at the party’s September conference. Jeremy Corbyn confirmed he will not lead Labour into the next election, after a “very disappointing night”. Mr Corbyn said he will continue to lead the party during a “process of reflection”, after complaining of victimisation by the British media. He said Brexit had “polarised” politics which had “overridden normal political debate”.
The Conservatives won a big majority, hijacking previous labour supporters in the process after a hard fought election campaign. Mr Corbyn said Labour had put forward a “manifesto of hope” and criticised the behaviour of the media towards his party during the campaign. He said: “Brexit has so polarised and divided debate in this country, it has overridden so much of a normal political debate.”