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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Labour needs to wake up to the fact that U-turning on Brexit cost it the election
Too many members are engaged in a collective effort to deny the devastating effect of framing ourselves as a Remain party, says CHELLEY RYAN
Labour leadership candidate Sir Keir Starmer addressing a People's Vote rally calling for a second EU referendum in September. Of Labour's 54 seats lost to the Tories, 52 had voted to leave the EU

IN 2015, I was devasted over Labour’s general election defeat, but that quickly turned to hope when I realised my analysis of the causes behind this loss were shared by the majority of party members. 

While the Parliamentary Labour Party was desperately framing it as a defeat of the left (it’s almost laughable looking back now to think they considered Ed Miliband to be too left wing), the members had correctly pinned the blame on a wishy-washy, uninspiring and incongruent manifesto. 

Miliband, who inspired a lot of affection among the members, was less red and more a jarring shade of fuschia. 

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