'Not Labour enough': MPs' despair at voters' verdict on government

"We are losing to everyone, everywhere." That could be a quote from a Conservative, as the previous party of government struggles to rebuild trust with the electorate. But it isn't. It's a despairing message from a new Labour MP, elected in last year's general election landslide. Labour had a terrible night when many of the county council seats up for grabs in Thursday's English local elections were last contested in 2021. So far, today's results are even worse. Labour should have been within shouting distance of regaining control of Durham -but their vote tumbled. Before the result was announced, a former Labour MP texted to say - in colourful language – just how grim the political landscape was in the North East. And where voters were determined to oust the Conservatives in Staffordshire, they turned to Reform UK not Labour to do so. This has prompted calls for Sir Keir Starmer to change direction. The Labour Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones - who had her majority slashed - blamed the withdrawal of winter fuel allowance from most pensioners, and urged a rethink on the forthcoming cuts to personal independence payments (Pips) fordisabled people. Labour MP Richard Burgon – a shadow minister under Sir Keir's left wing predecessor Jeremy Corbyn – agreed. He said the current party leadership needed to "change course" and suggested that these policies were "driving away our own voters, and letting Reform squeeze through." The Labour leadership won't be quaking in its boots when attacked by the Left. But what is noteworthy is that - off the record - some MPs from across the party are making not dissimilar points, and have been contacting the BBC (and not vice versa) to make them. One of the new intake of Labour MPs told me "this is not a verdict on our failure to deliver. "It is a verdict on what we have delivered. People on the doorsteps are using the word 'betrayal.' "It's winter fuel. It's fear of Pips, it's a bit of immigration." "People voted for change – voted for Labour – but the government isn't looking Labour enough, and people are asking 'what's the point?'". Another new MP - very much not on the left of the party - described the withdrawal of winter fuel payments as "Labour's poll tax". And a longer-standing Labour politician said to me it was "more to do with uninspiring leadership". "And it turns out that cutting disability and winter fuel payments comes at a cost – these are not Labour things to do," they added. Another said that fellow backbenchers tend to panic close to general election time if their party is behind in the polls but "we are panicking in less than a year". A defeated Labour councillor from Lancashire, Matthew Tomlinson, described himself as "an extremely loyal Labour Party supporter". But he told the BBC when certain policies were taken together – and he included national insurance increases for employers and the lack of compensation for some women pensioners to the welfare cuts - "it feels like a Labour Party that just isn't Labour enough." I have also had reports of difficulties in motivating activists and a dearth of Labour door-knockers in some areas. So what changes do some of Keir Starmer's MPs wish to see? Well, one former frontbencher predicted a "bloody battle" over the disability benefit cuts when MPs vote in a month or so. It doesn't look like the government will back down on that issue. But I have been told some potential rebels are being assured that they won't lose the party whip if they abstain – or make themselves scarce – when the vote comes. Some are calling for a bigger rethink, with more focus on social issues and less on adjusting policies to meet economic forecasts. And there are calls for Chancellor Rachel Reeves' "fiscal rules"- which restrict debt levels but also constrain investment – to be loosened. The Treasury has already rejected this – arguing that it would lead to higher interest rates and therefore mortgages. The 40 MPs in Labour's Red Wall group want to see a tougher line on immigration but also more investment in "left behind" areas in the Midlands and North of England. That has prompted demands for the shredding of the "Green Book" – the Treasury bible used to assess the costs and benefits of new projects. The belief is that this document tends to emphasise the cost and downplay the benefits. Jo White from Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire, who represents a group of backbenchers from 'Red Wall' areas in England, said the voices of "people from the outside" hadn't been listened to. She also called for schools and hospitals to be "lifted from the shackles of debt" so the party could deliver on its priorities. One Red Wall MP has suggested that if the chancellor won't contemplate a "reset" then she should be reshuffled, "otherwise she'll bring Starmer down with her". The prime minister said today that he "gets" the message of the election results – to go forward faster with his plan for change. I haven't got any sense that this involves a further change of direction. The party has already cut overseas aid to fund an increase in defence spending. This might have been expected to appeal to Reform-minded voters, but the election results don't tend to suggest that it has worked. An array of announcements and initiatives are on the way – an immigration white paper in a matter of weeks; a long-awaited industrial strategy; the outcome a defence review; more on workers' rights; one or more trade deals. Labour will seek to get on the front foot. But much is either outside the government's control or is difficult to control, such as a stubbornly stagnant economy and an international trade war. Ministers point to progress on a number of fronts, from rising wages to falling NHS waiting lists. Yet the election results were an expression of voters' "first impressions" of Labour back in power. Some of its MPs worry that it will be difficult to change the negative prism through which the government is viewed.