Thread by @OwenJones84

This is just diabolical.

Labour won 52.5% of the vote in Hartlepool in 2017. They won nearly 5 points more than the result below in 2019.

Labour isn't just failing to win back 2017 Labour voters who voted for the Brexit Party in 2019 - it's bleeding support to leftwing parties.

All Keir Starmer's very loud and well connected cheerleaders are currently doing is making excuses.

If this poll is right, Labour under his leadership are doing considerably worse than 2019, when Brexit dominated all of British politics and Corbyn was undeniably very unpopular.

Labour didn't win in 2017, as we are all told a lot. But given it did win 40%, won seats for the first time since 1997, had the biggest surge in votes since 1945, *and* won thumping majorities in seats like Hartlepool, lessons have to be learned from that - or Labour is sunk.

And by the way, if Corbyn was seen as a legitimate Labour leader, we wouldn't even be debating learning lessons from the 2017 election - everyone would agree we should understand why it wasn't enough for Labour to win, but it did show Labour making progress to be built upon.

Yes, the NHS vaccine rollout helps the government, which is why Labour shouldn't have bet the house on competence as a dividing line.

But the Tories have overseen one of the worst pandemic responses on earth. It's on Labour that they failed to pin that on the government.

Nobody progressive should look at polls like that from Hartlepool and feel any sense of glee. Britain is in serious danger of going the way of Hungary, run by authoritarian populists destroying democracy. Labour are currently woefully failing to stop that from happening.

Oh, and if Labour loses Hartlepool and you respond "It's Corbyn's fault!!!!" - even though Labour kept the seat twice under his leadership, including with the biggest majority since 2001 in 2017 - then you are either terminally dishonest or terminally delusional.

This delusion is all over twitter.

Labour won over half the vote in Hartlepool in 2017. Many of them then voted for the Brexit Party in 2019 when Brexit was a huge issue. Labour should now be winning them back. They're not.

https://twitter.com/FTP1996/status/1389505196817014785

If that poll is right, the Tories will win Hartlepool whether the Northern Independence Party exist or not - and rather than blaming people in Hartlepool for voting for NIP, maybe ask why they're doing it and how Labour can win them back. Labour aren't entitled to anyone's vote!

Another thing.

In 2015, Labour won 35.6% of the vote in Hartlepool - less than it did in 2019 - while 28% voted for UKIP - more than voted for the Brexit Party in 2019.

But in 2017, Labour benefited from UKIP's collapse and won 52.5%.

So why isn't the same happening today?

For those who are pretending not to understand statistics, Labour is:

a) Failing to win over people who voted Labour in 2017 and then voted Brexit Party in 2019

b) Losing support to the Northern Independence Party and the Greens which

c) Gives them a lower vote share than 2019