Left-wing voters turning their backs on Labour

Labour risks losing a number of urban target seats as loyal Left-wing voters turn their backs on the party, experts have warned.

With some Muslim and younger voters put off Sir Keir Starmer’s party as a result of its stance on Gaza and net zero issues, Labour may even lose two seats it won in 2019.

Labour is predicted to win a landslide victory according to most polling, with The Telegraph’s poll tracker putting them consistently 20 points ahead of the Conservatives.

According to a seat-by-seat YouGov poll, Labour is now projected to win more than 400 seats, with the Tories facing their worst general election wipeout on record.

But it also predicted Labour could lose two seats it held in 2019 under Jeremy Corbyn and there were up to a dozen on the party’s target list they may also struggle to win.

Patrick English of YouGov said: “If there is a big anti-Labour feeling among Muslim and young voters, that could cost them in a big way in places where those groups make up 10-15 per cent of the population each.

“If the polls are level or even if Labour is five points ahead, it could be extremely damaging for Labour and could mean they fail to win a whole host of English bellwether marginal seats.”

Sir Keir’s domestic policy platform is far from the radical one he stood on to become Mr Corbyn’s replacement in 2020, as the party appears to move towards the centre ground on some key issues as it has come closer to power.

But it appears to have thrown two seats that Mr Corbyn held on to in 2019 into possible peril.

The race appears closest in Sheffield Hallam, where the Liberal Democrats are just one percentage point behind Labour in recent polling.

Shaffaq Mohammed, the Lib Dem candidate in Sir Nick Clegg’s old seat, told The Guardian that Sheffield has “traditionally been a Left-of-centre city” and that some of Sir Keir’s policy moves had put off voters.

“Keir Starmer embracing some of the Conservative policies such as the two-child limit on benefits has not gone down well here,” he added.

Mr Mohammed also cited the Labour Party’s stance on Gaza, which has proven to be a political headache for Sir Keir among traditional supporters and even within his party.

In November, 10 MPs resigned from Sir Keir’s frontbench to go against him and vote for an immediate ceasefire.

Labour’s official position now is that there should be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, with David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, saying in February they were now “mirroring the language” of the UN and other members of the Five Eyes alliance.

But the party’s stance over the course of the war in Gaza since the Hamas attacks on Oct 7 appears to have damaged its support, particularly among Muslim voters.

The Labour Muslim Network, which represents Muslim MPs, councillors and party members, said in February, before the party changed its stance on an immediate ceasefire, that it was “a crisis point for the future of the relationship between the British Muslim community and the Labour Party”.

‘We will work to win back support we’ve lost’

Another thorn in Labour’s side when it comes to holding on to younger voters is its stance on climate issues, with the party having ditched its £28 billion green pledge earlier this year.

Bristol Central, a seat that is replacing shadow culture secretary Thangham Debbonaire’s seat of Bristol West, will see the Green Party challenge Labour, according to YouGov.

The Greens’ Carla Denyer is currently polling at 29 per cent, the main challenger to Ms Debbonaire – who won a 28,000 strong majority in 2019.

A Labour spokesman said: “We’ve had a deliberate strategy to broaden our electoral appeal by changing the Labour Party and putting it back in the service of working people.

“We don’t take any support for granted and we will continue to work to win back any support we’ve lost ahead of the general election.”