'They DON'T trust you!' Andrew Neil savages Corbyn ally over SHOCKING Copeland defeat
ANDREW NEIL tore into Labour’s campaign chief Ian Lavery while he tried to make excuses for their shocking performance in the Copeland by-election.
Andrew Neil hammers key Corbyn ally over Copeland defeat
The veteran host insisted voters no longer “trust” Labour and Jeremy Corbyn after Mr Lavery blamed losing the seat on a “distrust in politicians”.
They lost the seat to the Conservatives for the first time since 1935, with Labour MPs urging their leader to stand down after the humiliating defeat.
Trudy Harrison stole the seat by 2,147, which makes the Conservatives the first governing party to gain a seat in a by-election since 1982.
MPs have warned the party is heading towards a “historic and catastrophic defeat” in a future general election.
They don’t trust is Labour and Jeremy Corbyn!
Discussing the defeat on BBC Daily Politics, Mr Lavery claimed the by-election wasn’t in anyway there to challenge Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
“The two main issues in Copeland were the NHS and the nuclear industry, it wasn’t at any time a ballot or indication on whether Jeremy Corbyn should or should not be the leader of the Labour Party,” he said.
“Jeremy Corbyn is the leader of one of the biggest, if not the biggest, political parties in Europe – we’ve got 500,000-600,000…”
Neil interjected, questioning the point of such a vast membership if they “can’t win a by-election for a seat you have held since 1935”.
Mr Lavery continued: “We’ve held it since 1935 and let me tell you, I am absolutely disappointed, to say the least, with the result in Copeland.
Corbyn under pressure after disastrous by-election result
“I’ve been knocking on the doors in Copeland and had some great responses and negative responses – but we’ve been speaking to people and they’ve been absolutely fabulous.
“It’s a real problem in areas like Copeland, they feel disenfranchised from politics, feel left behind by politicians.
“Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t mentioned on the doorstep and not where I was visiting, it was basically the fact that there was a general distrust in politicians…”
Neil once again leapt on the Labour MP’s comments, he rebuked: “So why did they vote Tory?
“If they distrust politicians, why did they vote Tory?”
He added: “We don’t distrust politicians, what they don’t trust is Labour and Jeremy Corbyn!
“That’s why for the first time in living memory they elected a non-Labour MP.
“It was about the NHS, both Mr Corbyn and your candidate – a doctor and an ambulance driver now – knows a lot about the NHS, by all accounts fought a good campaign, put the NHS at the heart of your campaign.
“It’s meant to be the issue for and Mr Corbyn and you still lost – and lost big. So what went wrong?”
Mr Lavery concluded Copeland’s constituents had voted for security in their nuclear industry, a subject not high on Labour’s priority list.