Labour might be down, but it’s not necessarily out

“There’s only one relationship that really matters,” a senior figure in government told me in the middle of Labour’s dreadful week, where ministers lost control of their backbenchers.

“It’s the one with the voters.” Well, quite.

And that relationship has soured since Labour has been in power. After days of frenzied coverage in Westminster around an anniversary the party might rather forget, what is the state of that vital relationship?

We gathered a group of Labour’s 2024 voters together to delve into what’s gone wrong, according to those who matter the most – the public.

Our participants were from two constituencies in Kent: Dartford and Gravesham. Both seats were won by Labour in the heady days of July 2024,…