Labour fears it has overestimated threat of Lib Dems as it hits ‘reset’

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks at a climate emergency rally in Falmouth, Cornwall. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA Wire. - Credit: PA

The Labour Party has hit the reset button after fearing that it had underestimated the threat of Leave voters switching to the Tories.

The party is making the move after a poll suggests the Tories could win a majority after election day on December 12th.

According to Labour insiders a key mistake up until now was overestimating the electoral threat from the Liberal Democrats, and underestimating the likelihood of Leave voters switching from Labour to the Conservatives, the BBC has reported.

Labour’s strategy so far had been – in part – to emphasise that the election is about more than Brexit and to get voters to focus on issues which would unite Labour voters in Leave and Remain areas.

The new plan is designed to appeal to those who voted for Brexit, and to try to convince them that Labour is not attempting to stop Brexit by offering another referendum.

Shadow cabinet members who back a Leave deal rather than Remain will have a higher profile in the final two weeks of the campaign.

MORE: Polls have been wrong before – they can be wrong again

Jeremy Corbyn and party chairman Ian Lavery, who favours leaving the EU with a deal, will tour Leave areas to try to explain the deal Labour wants to negotiate and emphasise that they will protect workers’ rights.