Why the ‘Red Wall’ Brexit voter stereotype needs to dropped - Yorkshire Post Letters

How do readers in so-called- ‘Red Wall’ constituencies feel about being stereotyped as – still – “staunch Brexiteers” by columnist Jayne Dowle (The Yorkshire Post, November 16)?

Some won’t mind. Some of them are regulars on your letters page. But the Brexiters are a diminishing minority. Many other voters are no doubt dismayed at what Boris Johnson did in their name and his failure to deliver on his promises to them.

Lazy characterisation of parliamentary seats in the North and Midlands - and the people who live in them – by the London media elite are often worth challenging.

Richard Corbett, former Yorkshire MEP and Labour leader in the European Parliament, was debunking a few Red Wall myths in August last year. Richard is President of Leeds for Europe.

Richard told the Labour List website: Only 29 per cent of Labour voters supported Leave in 2016 – and many of them now bitterly regret that decision. A majority of working-class voters in work backed Remain. Big cities tended to back Remain while small towns favoured Leave was as true in the South as in the North.

“By bending over backwards to placate a dwindling number of Brexiteers, Labour risks losing far more support among the majority of voters who do not think that Brexit is going well,” says Richard.

Stella Creasy, Walthamstow MP and Chair of Labour Movement for Europe, commissioned research in 54 Red Wall constituencies before last month’s party conference.

It found 63 per cent reckon that Brexit has affected living standards and 59 per cent that it’s behind Britain’s high inflation. Fifty-three per cent back the restoration of our freedom of movement. A similar number say that Brexit has harmed Britain’s economy.

“The Red Wall is fed up with Brexit and the damage it’s doing to their lives,” says Ms Creasy. “Showing how we can work with Europe to save the jobs and trade lost to Brexit could cement their vote for Labour.”

The Red Wall has moved on. The Labour front bench with its ‘Make Brexit Work’ mantra needs to catch up. Your columnist does, too.