Labour must embrace an English identity, says group of MPs

Mr Byrne said Labour was "over two million votes behind" the Conservatives in England

A group of Labour MPs has published a "route map" for winning back voters in England, where the party performed badly at the general election.

Ex-minister Liam Bryne, a member of the group called "Red Shift", said Labour needed to embrace an English identity.

He told the BBC the party had lost touch with its roots and people did not know who it stood for anymore.

Asked if Jeremy Corbyn could reconnect with voters, Mr Byrne said he "can definitely start us on the route back".

It comes after Jon Cruddas, who wrote Labour's 2015 manifesto and then led the review into its defeat, warned that Labour had "lost its connection with the English people".

He has called for the creation of an English Labour Party "to help identify the politics and policies we will need to win a majority of English seats", saying that "England will decide Labour's future".

Labour was reduced to its lowest number of MPs since 1987 at May's general election, after failing to breakthrough in England and suffering heavy losses at the hands of the SNP in Scotland.

'Lost our soul'

The Red Shift group - which also includes shadow education secretary Heidi Alexander, Labour MPs Shabhana Mahmood and MP Nic Dakin and Labour councillor Caroline Badley - has been touring the country speaking to voters about why they did not support Labour in May.

In its report, the group outlines 10 "key shifts" it says Labour needs to make in order to win a majority in England.

Among its recommendations is for the party to fix its "badly damaged" brand, by becoming "proud of our roots" and embracing the "politics of English identity".

Labour also needs to address its "credibility deficit" on the economy and broaden its appeal "to include the successful, the self-employed and entrepreneurs, and the over 55s", the group says.

Mr Byrne likened Mr Corbyn, a non-drinker, to a craft ale

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, shadow skills minister Liam Byrne said that at the time of the last election people did not know what Labour stood for.

"We had lots of people who just thought we had lost touch with our roots, we had lost our soul and they just weren't sure what to make of us.

"I'm afraid that went alongside distrust of our record and our plans for public spending."

'Strong flavours'

Reminded that as outgoing Treasury chief secretary following Labour's defeat in 2010 he famously left a note to his successor saying "there is no money", Mr Bryne said it was a "regrettable" thing to have done.

The Birmingham Hodge Hill MP said the party lacked a plan on business and on the economy, which it needed to address if it was to win again.

Asked if Jeremy Corbyn was the right man to reconnect with voters who had deserted the Labour Party, Mr Byrne said he thought he was, saying the new leader had brought a bit of "soul force" back to the party.

"In many ways he is the craft ale of the Labour movement. He's authentic, he's got strong flavours and he's seen as something different to bland mediocrity of politics," Mr Byrne added.

But Labour also needed "a bold vision" for how it "owns the future", he added, saying it needed to become the party of the self-employed, entrepreneurs and high-tech jobs.