Referendum case ‘not credible if we don’t even comment on subject at forefront of our voters’ minds’, organiser pleaded

Labour head office ordered local Labour parties to put nothing about immigration on their referendum leaflets, despite warnings from West Midlands regional staff and MPs that the party seemed to be trying to lose the referendum by avoiding the subject, internal party emails passed to the Guardian show.

An email sent by the West Midlands Labour regional office pleading for the national party to change leaflets so as to counter the leave campaign’s arguments about immigration was rejected by the Labour policy team.

An official from head office explained the plan had been rejected: “I have spoken with the policy team and the view is that we do not want to be talking about immigration or sovereignty on our leaflets so we are not able to sign it off. Could you go back to them and ask them to have a rethink about content? The briefing pack which is attached has the core script.”

The email circulated to all West Midlands regional organisers that told local parties, on the advice of the policy unit, not to include any mention of immigration in its leaflets was sent on 19 May and written by Malcolm Chalmers.

The response led a regional organiser, Douglas Bridger, to write to his local MPs: “We are not credible if we are not prepared to even comment on the one issue that is at the forefront of our voters’ minds. We are clearly trying to lose this referendum. I think we should argue with someone about this.”

He had specifically recommended to head office: “I am concerned that the standard postal vote letter does not address the nature of the referendum vote.” He said the party in its leaflets “had to make our case as a series of short points and to address two of the main attacks made by the leave camp”.

He suggested a draft leaflet on immigration, stating: “Many people are concerned about the number of people coming to Britain, particularly from eastern Europe. Leaving the EU and pulling up the drawbridge will not solve the problem in the long term.

“We need many of these people to do lower paid jobs. And we have 2 million [Britons] working in Europe. We do need to do more to support local communities where a lot of people have arrived from abroad.”

He also proposed words setting out a counter-attack on sovereignty. This was also rejected.

In a speech on Saturday, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, acknowledged that immigration was a central issue in the campaign and the party needed to talk to the electorate about their concerns.