Thread by @robfordmancs

Three problems with Richard Burgon's contribution to the whole patriotism/flags debate - which was (1) voters who like flags and patriotism have their own party - the Conservative party (2) chasing them means taking young and BAME voters for granted

https://twitter.com/sundersays/status/1356713739333025795

1. People who like flags and patriotism is "most people" (see Sunder Katwala's thread for evidence). So the argument amounts to "Labour should reject what most people think on this, and actively encourage them to vote Conservative if this is something that is important to them."

2. The "most people" who like flags in patriotism includes, actually, most young people and BAME voters. So if your concern is not to take such voters for granted - i.e. seeking to reflect their views not ignore them - then rejecting flags & patriotism is the wrong approach

3. Burgon is concerned this will cost more voters than it gains. That seems unlikely given (1) and (2) above, but it also ignores geography. The minority of voters who actively dislike tepid appeals to flags are concentrated in safe Labour seats.

Losing some votes in seats where Labour has towering majorities to improve Labour's appeal in the much larger set of seats which do not return Labour MPs would seem, on the face of it, a worthwhile gamble.

Just to underline that I am not misrepresenting Burgon's views on this, the quote I am responding to is at the end of this article. theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

The better point Burgon makes is that this kind of thing is no use as a substitute for more substantive policy and strategy. At best it is mood music. But given voters' views about Labour on this topic, a change of mood music is potentially worthwhile

For evidence that Labour has an image/brand problem to address here, see this polling. Voters consider themselves patriotic by a 61-16 margin (+45 net). They are more likely to think of Labour as not patriotic than patriotic - 35-40 margin (-5 net)

https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1357312455723147265?s=20