

As Huw Edwards announced the final nail in Corbyn’s socialist coffin at 10pm last night, the overwhelming Conservative majority came to light. Boris Johnson succeeded in a way not seen since Margeret Thatcher, securing a majority of 80 seats1, whilst overseeing a remarkable Labour defeat - as the opposition holds 6 fewer seats than they did under the not-so-fondly remembered Michael Foot.





Evidently, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour government lost the red wall that so notoriously prevented a Conservative majority in 2017 - but it’s now up to the party to diagnose why this happened. Corbyn’s success against Theresa May cannot be ignored, as Boris Johnson has not been a particularly successful campaigner in the traditional sense. General Elections aren’t won by campaigns that refuse to debate and dodge interviews, so how did Labour lose so many seats?





It’s easy to go for the scare-mongering “socialism” route, but this is not a cause of defeat which I personally agree with. These same soft-socialist policies delivered a death blow to Theresa May’s short residence in Downing Street when the general public rallied around a youth resurgence and belief in public services, not dissimilar to the way the north have rallied around the Tories’ decisiveness to leave the EU in 2019. Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership skills are certainly to be questioned - but in the modern debate of post-EU politics, the Labour leader’s stance on Brexit comes hand in hand with his leadership skills.





On the 25th February 2019, before Johnson’s candidacy for leader was even conceived by the general public, Corbyn announced that the Labour party would back a second referendum to prevent a Tory Brexit under Theresa May.2 Conceding to Keir Starmer, John McDonnell and the in-party-party of Momentum, Jeremy Corbyn all but confirmed that he was indebted to the party-splitting movement that ensured his stay as leader in the 2016 leadership vote against Owen Smith.3 This displayed a lack of leadership skills, unity and ruthlessness which Boris Johnson managed to propel forward despite his formerly foolish public persona through his parties unified ‘leave’ stance on Brexit.





According to YouGov data, an approximate 29% of Labour voters in the 2017 General Election voted ‘leave’ in the 2016 EU referendum.4 In the 2019 General Election, Labour lost 60 seats, going down from 262 to 202 seats within the house of commons – representing a loss of almost 23% of seats, whist their popular vote reduced by just over 20%. These may not be directly linked, but they are far too similar for a link between the votes not to be queried.





Of the 60 seats Labour lost in the 2019 General Election, 52 of which voted ‘leave’ in the EU referendum,5 representing a colossal 86.6% of the seats Labour lost. All 52 of the ‘leave’ voting Labour constituencies voted Conservative in 2019.6 Every single seat. These seats being retained would have prevented a Conservative majority – leaving them 13 seats short.





This isn’t to say that taking a firm ‘leave’ Brexit stance like the Tories would have secured a minority government, as some Labour seats would have likely been lost to the Liberal Democrats. This can be argued by the fact that the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson, lost her seat to the pro-Remain SNP7 – proving that the nation has not forgiven the Liberal Democrats for their abandonment of policy during the 2010 coalition. Furthermore, not even one of Labour’s 60 lost seats went to the Liberal Democrats.6





Starmer, McDonnell, and Momentum orchestrated the inclusion of a second referendum policy into the 2019 Labour manifesto.8 They sowed the seeds that lost Labour it’s famed ‘red wall’ and allowed Johnson to become the most successful Conservative politician since Margaret Thatcher.

Jeremy Corbyn might not have won the 2019 election by sticking to Labour’s 2017 commitment to Brexit, but he certainly lost the election by abandoning it.







