Labour must tackle a “deepening” crisis with English voters if it ever wants to form a Government again, a report warns.

The party has “for many years ... gone out of its way to alienate voters who emphasise their English identity”, according to the English Labour Network.

It admits the Conservatives are “clearly seen as a patriotic party”, fuelling Boris Johnson ’s 80-seat Commons majority.

The Tories “sided with voters’ conception of democracy and sovereignty” over Brexit - and on “immigration they have clearly been more prepared to acknowledge voters’ concerns”, it admits.

The latest grim analysis of Labour’s ballot box meltdown comes in a report by the ELN, seen by the Mirror.

The party suffered its worst result for 84 years in December - partly because of the Red Wall collapse across traditional heartlands.

(Image: Leon Neal)

Leadership hopefuls Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy and Rebecca Long-Bailey are battling to succeed Jeremy Corbyn , with a winner announced on April 4.

The study, ‘ General Election 2019: How Labour lost England’, blames the party’s “long-standing and deepening crisis in its relationship with English voters” for contributing to the disaster, adding it “must be addressed if the party is ever to win again”.

“There is no path back to power that doesn’t run through England and English voters,” it says.

Among voters who declared themselves “more English than British”, Labour just got 10 votes for every 27 the Conservatives received.

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The 2,600-word report says the party “failed to make any attempt to address English voters or the governance of England”.

“Labour has consistently refused to address the weakness of its English support”, according to the study.

It has been “slow to recognise” the significance of links between “voting patterns and national identity in England”, the report says.

“Unless Labour now responds and gains significantly more support from voters who emphasise their English identity, the path back to power is blocked.”

Labour was damaged by the perception it was against Brexit - and because the Tories were seen as more willing to listen to fears over high immigration.

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“These voters have been disconcerted by mass immigration,” says the study.

“Their strong sense of identity and community has been disrupted by changes they were not expecting.

“While some of this reaction is based on racism, for most it is more sense of uncertainty and loss of a stable community.

“Labour has stereotyped anyone who is not actively in favour of large-scale migration as bigoted.”

Labour was seen “overwhelmingly” as a “graduate middle-class party based in cities (and of London in particular)”.

The report also warns against simplistic solutions, stressing: “It would clearly be wrong to suggest that all Labour needs to do is to put a St George cross on its leaflets.”

The study, written by ELN director John Denham, a former Labour Cabinet Minister, has been passed to Ed Miliband and Lucy Powell.

The ex-party leader and former Shadow Education Secretary are leading a review into why Labour lost so badly in December.

Former Communities Secretary Mr Denham said: “Labour’s crushing defeat in 2019 was the latest in a series of catastrophic failures to win the support of voters who feel English more than they feel British, are patriotic, want someone to stand up for England and want to be listened to.

“Labour’s 2019 campaign failed on every measure. Neither the party nor its leader came across as patriotic.

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“The party never mentioned England or English people in its campaigning.

“It had no proposals to improve England’s democracy.

(Image: Getty Images)

“Its Brexit position left many feeling they weren’t being listened to.

“Labour did not reflect their concerns that immigration should be properly managed.

He urged the party to be “patriotic, proud of England, talking about England, willing to make England more democratic and to listening to their concerns of English voters”.