LABOUR lost the General Election because of voters’ fears of it cosying up to the SNP, a failure to present coherent policies on the economy, welfare and immigration and a belief that Ed Miliband was simply not up to the job of being Prime Minister, according to an internal review.
Pressure has been building within the party for the report, Learning the Lessons, written by former Foreign Secretary Dame Margaret Beckett, to be made public.
Rumours have abounded that the review, said to have been completed in November, has been suppressed by Jeremy Corbyn because it was thought to have shown voters were turned off by Mr Miliband's left-wing policies.
But publication is now expected next week after the ruling National Executive Committee meets on Tuesday. It was commissioned last May when Harriet Harman, the interim leader, stressed that the party needed a "forensic, honest examination of where it went wrong" to regain the trust of the British public.
Former frontbencher Dan Jarvis, tipped as a future leader, has been among a number of senior Labour figures who have called for the release of the report.
Writing in the left-wing New Statesman magazine, he said: "People frequently told me that although they knew the Tories were unfair and represented the interests of the better-off, they did not trust Labour with their taxes. We have to win back their trust.
"That's why we need to publish our official party inquiry into why we lost. Once we understand that we have been out of step with the electorate, we can start to build our political recovery and respond to the policy challenges Britain faces."
The report is believed to highlight four key reasons why the party lost the election based on responses from polling and doorstep conversations:
*a fear of Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP propping up a minority Labour government;
*a belief Mr Miliband would not be as strong a leader as David Cameron was;
*a failure to shake off the myth that the party was responsible for the 2008 financial crash and to build trust in the economy and
*an inability to communicate on benefits and immigration
The report will give some relief to Mr Corbyn as it says some left-wing policies like the mansion tax were the most popular; rather, the issue was the lack of a consistent, cohesive narrative."
A Labour spokeswoman said: "The formal process of considering the Learning the Lessons report is in its final stages and will conclude next week when it is presented to the relevant committee of the NEC. The Labour Party will then make the report public."
Meantime, left-wing Corbyn ally Ken Livingstone has caused controversy among his Labour colleagues after suggesting the party’s review on Trident could be completed within just 10 weeks ie by Easter.
The former London mayor, who is co-chairing the party’s defence review, told the BBC: "We will focus on the Trident issue ahead of the rest of the defence review…With a bit of luck that can be done in eight to ten weeks.”
But this sparked anger among pro-Trident Labour MPs.
John Woodcock, whose Barrow constituency contains the shipyard where nuclear submarines are built, accused Mr Livingstone of being "deliberately provocative".
He told the PoliticsHome website: "This is yet another example that the team behind Jeremy Corbyn don't give a stuff about how Labour looks to the public or whether we stand up for manufacturing jobs as long as they can provoke a fresh fight in the party.”
Kevan Jones, a former defence minister, who quit the Labour front bench last week over the appointment of unilateralist Emily Thornberry as shadow defence secretary, said: “If it had been Tony Blair or Gordon Brown talking about changing party policy like this, he would be arguing it was undemocratic."
The Trident issue is likely to dominate the weekend airwaves as Mr Corbyn is due to address Unite’s Scottish conference in Glasgow tomorrow. A day later, the union’s leader Len McCluskey is expected to use a speech to warn the Labour leader not to try to fix the Trident policy and warn of massive job losses if the deterrent were scrapped.
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