With Jeremy Corbyn's decision to U-turn on immigration, apparently part of the new strategy to create a left-wing populist movement with Jeremy at the helm, he makes a few key mistakes. His first mistake is talking about it at all. Labour are best on immigration by acting left-wing but saying nothing, unless absolutely necessary, and even then only speaking vaguely and not getting too bogged down in detail. This is essential as it is the issue that pits the parties two main support bases against each other, the working class, and the liberal, metropolitans. As we have seen with the Unite election, being hard on immigration plays well with white working class voters and so to appeal to that base an anti-immigration policy makes strategic sense. But unlike Unite Labour owe their electoral successes to another group as well, the aforementioned liberal base. To them the immigration issue is a red-line one, they are the anti-Brexit brigade who consider anti-immigration rhetoric to be the most vile politics that exist within our system. To appeal to both groups on the issue is very very difficult and the best answer for Labour is to try to avoid the topic.
But the leader has waded straight in, and in doing so is angering the metropolitan liberal types, like myself, and crucially, like most of his supporters. It may look like good politics though, to appeal to the working class when we are fighting UKIP in our northern heartlands and with a crucial by-election looming. Perhaps this will broaden our appeal with those who might otherwise be tempted to vote for UKIP or an increasingly hard-lined Tory party. This, however, is not the case. It comes across as insincere and nobody who feels angry about immigration is going to believe Jeremy actually means it. He is therefore angering one part of the parties support base in order to appeal to another who won't actually believe him anyway.
This is made even more problematic as it damages the one positive that has come from Jeremy's leadership, taking votes from the Green voting left. I don't believe for a second that we can win an election based on gaining green votes and those from the dissilusioned non-voters alone, but I welcome every new member and supporter and voter we can get. Appealing to them isn't enough, but at least it is something and credit where credit is due, Jeremy is convincing a few former Green voters to come to us. But how will they greet this news? They are as aghast by anti-immigration politics as the metropolitan base. We convince new people to join our party and quickly start banging on the drum that is most abhorrent to them.
In short Jeremy is managing to appeal to nobody with this change and alienate his own supporters and many others within the party. All for a policy idea that we know he does not actually support on the topic most difficult for our party. If this is the first step of the left-wing populist movement I am fearful for the next,
