Former Miliband aide says Labour needs clearer immigration message

A new poll suggests Labour is facing heavy defeat in 2020

Polly Billington warned Labour activists it could no longer rely on certain groups for automatic support.

She was speaking after a Survation poll for the Labourlist website revealed the party is 10 percentage points behind the Conservatives who are heading for a 71 seat majority at the next election.

Ms Billington, who worked for the Doncaster North MP in government and opposition, said Labour should press the Conservatives over claims made by Leave campaigners in the referendum that leaving the EU would make £350m a week available for the NHS.

She said: “That is what a lot of people did vote for, they voted for more money for the NHS and they were lied to. “

Ms Billington said Labour had been guilty of talking about immigration “but not saying very much”.

She said the party needed to establish a consensus over “who lives here, who works here”.

“It is not a British value, or indeed a Labour value, to believe in an unregulated Labour market,” she said.