Red Wall Labour MPs want tougher message on immigration

A group of Labour MPs is calling for a stronger message on immigration and more investment from the government to head off the electoral threat of Reform UK.

The Red Wall group has requested a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer.

Some of its 40 members represent seats in the north of England and Midlands which were once Labour heartlands but where first the Conservatives, and now Reform, have been gaining ground.

A recent YouGov opinion poll has suggested Nigel Farage's party is one point ahead of Labour in voting intentions.

The Red Wall group wants to see the government shout more loudly about what it has been doing to remove illegal immigrants but they also want to see more investment in northern England to shore up support.

The group's convenor, Bassetlaw MP Jo White, has also called for the introduction of ID cards.

Labour Together, an influential think tank which helped Sir Keir win his party's leadership, is working with the group.

Its chief executive, Jonathan Ashworth, himself a former MP and shadow minister, told the BBC the organisation was re-orienting its efforts to take on the threat of Reform and was working closely with Red Wall MPs.

Its own research suggests that Nigel Farage's party is particularly vulnerable on health policy and the future of the NHS.

Farage said that Labour should focus its efforts on tackling cross-Channel migrants before attacking Reform.

Reform won just five seats at the general election last year but came second in 98 constituencies, including 89 Labour seats.

The Red Wall caucus wants more investment in infrastructure for the north of England, where Reform was ahead of the Tories in dozens of seats last year.

One Red Wall MP who is a member of the group told the PA news agency a key concern was that Chancellor Rachel Reeves' push for economic growth had focused too heavily on wealthier areas in the south.

Pointing announcements of funding for transport links between Oxford and Cambridge as well as backing of the Heathrow Airport expansion, they said: "That has no effect whatsoever on the red wall.

"It's not going to create growth in the forgotten areas where Reform are more likely to be second."

Downing Street sources have suggested that there has been no change in overall strategy, and at the next election the choice voters will have is between a Labour and a Conservative government.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed argued the government was creating jobs nationwide by "seizing the opportunities of the future" by investing in clean energy.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Reed said: "By switching from fossil to clean energy we're creating many, many more jobs in a growing sector of the future."

He invoked the legacy of Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who, Reed said, had left Red Wall areas "hollowed out and offered nothing in return" during the massive industrial changes she oversaw.

In contrast, Labour "will support communities" through the current industrial shift, he said.

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