For Corbyn, Milne, Murray, McDonnell, McCluskey and Murphy Brexit is a matter of ideological conviction. They could not change their minds even if they wanted to. But those who want Labour to win general elections should read this and get very worried:
whatukthinks.org/eu/a-nation-of…
whatukthinks.org/eu/a-nation-of…
Put simply, whether you voted Leave or Remain in 2016 has become more important to people than party affiliation. Remainers feel this even more deeply than Leave voters. And, as we all know, most Labour voters backed Remain.
In 2017, when we were further away from Brexit, emotions were not as raw as they are now and Labour explicitly ruled out a No Deal Brexit as the Tories talked about No Deal being better than a Bad Deal, Remain voters backed Labour. They took the least worst option.
The next general election will be fought after Brexit and if Labour is not perceived to have done all it can to prevent it happening, why would someone who primarily identifies as Remain stick with Labour when they feel betrayed?
Everyone has a political red line, one they will not cross. It may take them a while to realise this, but when they get engaged and start to think about issues, it will appear and it will matter a huge amount.
New Labour failed to understand this and it seems that Corbyn Labour will make exactly the same mistake. Labour lost votes in 2005 and 2010 because it crossed too many voters' red lines - on Iraq, on the economy and so on. Not all Remain voters will abandon Labour, most won't.
But at a time when Labour needs to be gaining large numbers of voters in order to win and when its proportion of Leave voters is already low, losing just 10% to 20% of its 2017 Remain bloc will be catastrophic for the party's chances.
And remember this - in all those Labour constituencies that did vote Leave, it is highly likely that most of the people who voted Remain were also Labour voters. Think about that for a moment.
As I say, I don't think that the people who control Labour are too concerned about this because they are ideological Brexiteers, but Remain-supporting party members and MPs should not only be frustrated they should also be very concerned.
