Owen Jones Advises Jeremy Corbyn On Six Things Labour Need To Start Doing

Listen Up Labour, Owen Jones Has Some Advice For You
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From attacks in the British tabloids over his bow at the cenotaph and criticisms for not singing the national anthem, Jeremy Corbyn has been facing an upwards struggle in the past few weeks.

But luckily for him, Guardian columnist Owen Jones has some words of advice that could turn his fortunes around.

His suggestions ranged from: "You can't win by just going on about the people at the bottom of society", to advising Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell on decoding his anti-austerity rhetoric.

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Owen Jones has some advice for the Labour camp

His six-point advice video began on what he described as "the whole patriotism issue", continuing he said: "There's nothing more patriotic than wanting to rid your country of injustice".

But he urged the Labour politicians to not allow themselves to be put across as 'unpatriotic', explaining that it would only cause rise to parties such as UKIP.

The second point he raised was for Corbyn and co to "stop focusing on low income societies".

"You can't win by just going on about the people at the bottom of society, people who are most in poverty and hardship. You've got to have things to say to people who are in the middle," he saied.

Third on his list was for the party to target older people, saying that during the general election "the Tories only had a lead over Labour for those over the age of 44".

He noted that 43% of 18 to 24-year-olds voted Labour and 27% voted for Conservatives but only half of the age group turned out to vote.

Whereas with the over 65s, 47% of them voted for the Conservatives and 80% of them turned out.

His next piece of advice was "economic credibility", claiming that one of the pitfalls of Labour's message could be that it's too "anti-austerity".

"Now austerity is a word that is quite meaningless to most people" he noted. "During the election campaign one of the most Googled phrases was 'What is austerity'?, after five years of it. It shouldn't be about what Labour opposes, but what it supports."

Jones then went on to the government's current focus on national security. "What happened in Paris the other week was a monstrous despicable crime committed by a bunch of fanatical losers," he began.

"They are a threat. The Labour leadership has to emphasise that and understand the gravity of that threat," he advised.

His final point hit the "big issue" of immigration. "This is a subject the left often just wants to go away, they just don't want to deal with it.

"But the truth is and this is a difficult truth often from the left to recognise, is that immigration regularly tops polls for the subject that voters care most about.

"Communities with higher levels of immigration should get extra financial support."