TWO left Labour MPs have called on the party to “fight back now” in the wake of a survey showing that most members don’t believe they will win the next election.

Former party chairman Ian Lavery said yesterday that it is “not surprising” if a majority of Labour members think they will lose, given perceptions of weak opposition to a government in crisis.

A LabourList survey found that 55 per cent of readers felt a “Conservative or Conservative-led administration” was the most likely result of the next election – following a ConservativeHome survey which found that 74 per cent of Tories believed they would win a majority.

“Lots of members are not too happy at the current direction of the party,” the Wansbeck MP told the Morning Star.

“Unity is not the flavour of the month and this is causing huge problems in almost every constituency party. The only way we can win is as a united party that challenges and opposes the government.

“People are disappointed at a strategy that seems to welcome government policy but criticises its competence.

“The government has messed up so dramatically on Covid-19, with one of the highest death tolls in the world, a dire economy, key workers we were told to clap for now ignored and now the education fiasco – it’s complete and utter turmoil. We should be shouting from the top of the Shard about this situation. We could be doing a lot better than we are in the polls.”

The survey showed that Labour members overwhelmingly back many key policies of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, including nationalising mail, rail, energy and water, raising taxes on incomes over £80,000, scrapping tuition fees and repealing anti-trade union legislation.

“It’s another demonstration that party members still support Labour’s transformative policies from the last two manifestos,” Leeds East MP Richard Burgon told the Star.

“Many of those policies remain popular not only with Labour members but crucially with the wider electorate too – though some policies now need deepening in light of the intensified crisis we are living through.

“Our 2019 defeat was certainly not a rejection of those policies, but a consequence of an election dominated by Brexit.

“We can’t meet the challenges of our time by dropping our popular and necessary socialist policies – we need to build upon them. If we push bold policies offering practical solutions to the huge range of problems intensified by the public-health and economic crisis, then we can get the Labour government that we need.

“In the meantime the fightback against attacks on working-class living standards can’t wait until the next election – we need to fight back now.”