Labour MP Conor McGinn has said his party needs to rethink how it responds to "concerns and fears about immigration" among its traditional working-class base in light of widespread rejection of the arguments of the Remain campaign.
Speaking on The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast, Armagh-born McGinn partially blamed his party's failure on "a patrician socialism that's actually about telling working class people what's best for them".
On the motion of no confidence in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled by some Labour MPs today, McGinn said he would listen to what Corbyn said over the weekend, but also said the party was not going in the right direction if it wanted to help the working class.
“I’m of the very firm opinion that, in order to do that, you have to win, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to win elections, and on our current trajectory we’re going further away from winning rather than closer to winning,” said McGinn.
62 per cent of voters chose for Britain to leave the EU in McGinn’s constituency, St Helens in Merseyside.
On immigration, McGinn said Labour had to challenge “unpalatable views” and continue to argue for the benefits of immigration to British society, but also listen to widespread concerns about “the impact it has on local schools and hospitals and public services and how it changes the shape and nature and identity of their community”.
“We have to meet people with where they’re at on it and we have to do a better job of explaining the reasosn why voting to leave won’t change the fact immigration occurs and will continue to occur” he said.
McGinn described Sinn Féin's call for a border poll in Northern Ireland as understandable given the lack of "a mechanism to address the fact that 56 per cent of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain," but said he was not convinced it was the right solution.
The Irish community in the UK now feel “anxiety and trepidation”, he said, due to fears that the freedom of movement between the two countries will be curtailed.
“There has been a duality of Irishness and Britishness that has been complimentary over the last ten years and I think there’s a real fear that the practical consequence of Britain leaving the UK is that won’t be able to be maintained. And I think that’s very sad,” he said.
