Labour pressure group refuses to back any leadership candidate claiming party is ‘lost’

(left to right) Labour leadership candidates Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Sir Keir Starmer. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA. PA Wire/PA Images

Labour pressure group Blue Labour has refused to back any leadership contender ahead of the close of the ballot, claiming that the party remains ‘lost’.

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The group, an unofficial sub-group affiliated with the party and formed by Maurice Glasman, claimed the none of the leadership candidates had “grasped the scale of Labour’s defeat or its meaning”.

The group is in favour of socialism and against the New Labour narrative under Tony Blair, criticising his approach to globalisation and immigration.

It claims the group represents the core values of the party pre-1945.

In a series of tweets it said that Labour had “abandoned the working class” and said there was a “long way back” for the party.

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It tweeted: “Labour is lost. It is lost in England, lost in Scotland and looking more lost in Wales by the day. The Corbyn project completed the gentrification that began under New Labour and now we have lost touch with the language, culture and priorities of the working class.

“Labour has turned inwards. No leadership contender has risen to the occasion. It is a strange and sad time in the life of our country. The campaign has had a surreal quality to it, so divorced has it been from the real questions facing our country.”

“Obsessed with internal process and fringe issues, Labour has had nothing to say on the costs of globalisation to industry, on supply chain and national security, and on dignified working class jobs. Some leading figures have even come out to bat for totalitarian China.

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“Labour abandoned the working class and now the favour has been returned; we can’t say it hasn’t been coming. It’s a long way back. If there is hope, it lies with the rediscovery of our own radical tradition.”

Blue Labour has been previously accused of thinly-veiled racism for its anti-immigration approach.

The new Labour leader will be unveiled on Saturday - with Rebecca Long-Bailey, Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy remaining in the competition.