The seats that Labour lost paint a very clear picture

These are the 60 seats lost by Labour in the 2019 general election:

1. Ashfield, Natalie Fleet (replacing Gloria de Piero) – Leave vote in 2016: 70.5%
2. Barrow and Furness, Chris Altree (replacing John Woodcock) – Leave vote in 2016: 57.3%
3. Bassetlaw, Keir Morrison (replacing John Mann) – Leave vote in 2016: 68.3%
4. Birmingham Northfield, Richard Burden – Leave vote in 2016: 61.8%
5. Bishop Auckland, Helen Goodman – Leave vote in 2016: 60.9%
6. Blackpool South, Gordon Marsden – Leave vote in 2016: 67.8%
7. Blyth Valley, Susan Dungworth (replacing Ronnie Campbell) – Leave vote in 2016: 60.5%
8. Bolsover, Dennis Skinner – Leave vote in 2016: 70.4%
9. Bolton North East, David Crausby – Leave vote in 2016: 58.1%
10. Bridgend, Madeleine Moon – Leave vote in 2016: 50.3%
11. Burnley, Julie Cooper – Leave vote in 2016: 66.6%
12. Bury North, James Frith – Leave vote in 2016: 53.7%
13. Bury South, Lucy Burke (replacing Ivan Lewis) – Leave vote in 2016: 54.5%
14. Clwyd South, Susan Elan Jones – Leave vote in 2016: 59.9%
15. Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, Hugh Gaffney – Remain vote in 2016: 61.2%
16. Colne Valley, Thelma Walker – Leave vote in 2016: 50.1%
17. Crewe and Nantwich, Laura Smith – Leave vote in 2016: 60.3%
18. Darlington, Jenny Chapman – Leave vote in 2016: 58.1%
19. Delyn, David Hanson – Leave vote in 2016: 54.4%
20. Derby North, Tony Tinley (replacing Chris Williamson) – Leave vote in 2016: 54.3%
21. Dewsbury, Paula Sherriff – Leave vote in 2016: 57.2%
22. Don Valley, Caroline Flint – Leave vote in 2016: 68.5%
23. Dudley North, Melanie Dudley (replacing Ian Austin) – Leave vote in 2016: 71.4%
24. Durham North West, Laura Pidcock – Leave vote in 2016: 55.1%
25. East Lothian, Martin Whitfield – Remain vote in 2016: 64.6%
26. Gedling, Vernon Coaker – Leave vote in 2016: 56.3%
27. Glasgow North East, Paul Sweeney – Remain vote in 2016: 59.3%
28. Great Grimsby, Melanie Onn – Leave vote in 2016: 71.5%
29. Heywood and Middleton, Liz McInnes – Leave vote in 2016: 62.4%
30. High Peak, Ruth George – Leave vote in 2016: 50.6%
31. Hyndburn, Graham Jones – Leave vote in 2016: 65.8%
32. Ipswich, Sandy Martin – Leave vote in 2016: 56.5%
33. Keighley, John Grogan – Leave vote in 2016: 53.3%
34. Kensington, Emma Dent Coad – Remain vote in 2016: 68.8%
35. Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Lesley Laird – Remain vote in 2016: 56.7%
36. Leigh, Jo Platt – Leave vote in 2016: 63.3%
37. Lincoln, Karen Lee – Leave vote in 2016: 57.4%
38. Midlothian, Danielle Rowley – Remain vote in 2016: 62.1%
39. Newcastle-under-Lyme, Carl Greatbatch replacing Paul Farrelly – Leave vote in 2016: 61.6%
40. Penistone and Stocksbridge, Fran Johnson replacing Angela Smith – Leave vote in 2016: 60.7%
41. Peterborough, Lisa Forbes – Leave vote in 2016: 61.3%
42. Redcar, Anna Turley – Leave vote in 2016: 67.7%
43. Rother Valley, Sophie Wilson replacing Kevin Barron – Leave vote in 2016: 66.7%
44. Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Ged Killen – Remain vote in 2016: 62.4%
45. Scunthorpe, Nic Dakin – Leave vote in 2016: 68.7%
46. Sedgefield, Phil Wilson – Leave vote in 2016: 59.4%
47. Stockton South, Paul Williams – Leave vote in 2016: 57.8%
48. Stoke-on-Trent Central, Gareth Snell – Leave vote in 2016: 64.9%
49. Stoke-on-Trent North, Ruth Smeeth – Leave vote in 2016: 72.1%
50. Stroud, David Drew – Remain vote in 2016: 54.1%
51. Vale of Clwyd, Chris Ruane – Leave vote in 2016: 56.6%
52. Wakefield, Mary Creagh – Leave vote in 2016: 62.8%
53. Warrington South, Faisal Rashid – Leave vote in 2016: 51.1%
54. West Bromwich East, Ibrahim Dogus (replacing Tom Watson) – Leave vote in 2016: 68.2%
55. West Bromwich West, James Cunningham replacing Adrian Bailey – Leave vote in 2016: 68.7%
56. Wolverhampton North East, Emma Reynolds – Leave vote in 2016: 67.7%
57. Wolverhampton South West, Eleanor Smith – Leave vote in 2016: 54.4%
58. Workington, Sue Hayman – Leave vote in 2016: 61.0%
59. Wrexham, Mary Wimbury replacing Ian Lucas – Leave vote in 2016: 57.6%
60. Ynys Môn, Mary Roberts replacing Albert Owen – Leave vote in 2016: 50.9%

Did you spot what most have in common?

Only four seats Labour lost in the 2019 general election voted mainly Remain in the EU referendum.

In 56 of the above 60 the majority of constituents voted Leave. Seats including the so-called “red wall”, constituencies such as Bolsover, Darlington, Rother Valley and Redcar, some seats that had been red for 100 years.

Even the Beast of Bolsover, Dennis Skinner, 87, a miner’s son who had been MP since 1970 for a Derbyshire constituency devastated by Thatcher’s pit closures, scarred by austerity, – and yet a seat where was defeated comfortably by young Conservative Mark Fletcher by 21,791 votes to 16,492. 70.4% of Bolsover voted Leave and even though Dennis Skinner never voted against Brexit, he lost the votes of his loyal constituency of half a century.

Of course, it’s too simplistic to blame just Brexit. As both John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn said this weekend, their party and constituencies had been split by Brexit, and their solution to bring the country back together respecting everybody’s referendum vote, on top of a manifesto packed with policies to bring hope and heal the nation, clearly didn’t cut through as much as “Get Brexit Done”. – A three word slogan drummed home by Boris Johnson, his Tory colleagues nowhere to be seen with their baggage, a slogan amplified by a largely Tory press and the broadcast media, a slogan the Tories spent a fortune advertising across Google, YouTube and every social media until it rang true with enough people, despite its hollow reality.

Jeremy Corbyn had been smeared on a daily basis in a partisan media, as McDonnell also alluded to, and enough of the smears had stuck that enough Labour voters were not prepared to vote for him. The Labour party reportedly wanted Brexit sorted first to stop an unwinnable election on the issue of Brexit and wait until Corbyn’ successor was in place. Yet their hands were forced by Jo Swinson’s bizarre decision to join Boris Johnson’s call for an election, and help him escape the minority government he had created by sacking his colleagues.

The election postmortems will continue, and you can draw your own conclusions from the list above. Of course, there are other factors common to many of the seats, neglected by Westminster for far too long, seats where faith in politicians was at an all time low and “Getting Brexit Done” was winning. Seats where sending Momentum activists a week or two before a rushed election was probably too late to persuade them otherwise.

@BenGelblum

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