Jess Phillips urges ex-Labour voters to "come back" to beat Boris Johnson
13 January 2020, 16:50
The Labour leadership candidate wants people who defected to rejoin as it's the only way to beat Boris Johnson.
James O'Brien asked how Labour tempts back people who defected in the General Election.
She replied: "All I would say is that I'm in the business of trying to govern.
"We have to win elections in order to do the things that we want.
"So, for all those voters, Labour Party members even, who have left and felt that they had to vote Green or Liberal Democrat or even leave the party, I would really encourage those people to come back, rejoin the Labour Party or join for the very first time.
"Because, with regard to progressive politics, the Labour Party is still the only force in my opinion always has been the greatest vehicle for social change that our country has ever had.
"But it is now really the only force that can take on Boris Johnson and beat Boris Johnson and beat the kind of, sort of, insular nationalistic as opposed to international sort of rhetoric that we've seen.
"So I would really encourage anyone who left the Labour Party, for the first time didn't vote Labour, or has felt for a while that we weren't speaking to their values, to rejoin the Labour Party and give us a chance because governing and changing things, it's going to need everybody."
James O'Brien brought up proportional representation and reforming the electoral system.
Phillips said: "Boris Johnson has a majority of 80. That's going to be that's going to be my 'strong and stable', I feel.
"I'm going to say over and over again, Boris Johnson has a majority of 80 and that has consequences. So conversations about electoral reform, conversations about progressive alliances, conversations even about what goes on in the sort of federal system in Scotland, our hands are tied until we can win a general election."
She added: "So we need people to rally around the progressive forces that can challenge that. It's as simple as that. I don't like it. It is what it is."
