Red Wall Caucus | |
|---|---|
| Leader andconvener | Jo White |
| Founded | 2024 |
| National affiliation | Labour Party |
| Parliamentary Labour Party | 43 / 402 |
| House of Commons | 43 / 650 |
TheRed Wall Caucus is a Britishpolitical caucus andpressure group ofbackbenchLabour MPs who representred wall seats in theHouse of Commons. Led byBassetlaw MPJo White, the caucus was formed in November 2024 and has 43 members as of May 2025.
The Red Wall Caucus mainly focuses onopposing immigration, with the group arguing that immigration is opposed by the British people. It believes that opposing immigration is necessary to prevent the loss of red wall Labour voters to the anti-immigration right-wing populist partyReform UK, which has gained support in the region as a protest to high immigration numbers under previousConservative governments. The group also focuses on issues which it sees as affecting Labour's traditionalworking class voter base in particular, such as thecost-of-living crisis,anti-social behaviour and crime, access toGPs andwelfare benefits.
The Red Wall Caucus was formed in November 2024 to represent the interests of Labour MPs who represent seats in thered wall, a collection of constituencies in theMidlands andNorthern England which traditionally voted for Labour until the2019 general election, when most of these seats switched to theConservatives over the issue ofBrexit.[1][2] At the2024 general election, most seats in the red wall returned to Labour, though this was the result of the new right-wing populist partyReform UK splitting the Conservative vote out of protest against highimmigration numbers under the former Conservative government rather than the Labour Party improving on its previous performance in 2019, with analysis showing that Labour actually won fewer votes in the red wall than in 2019.[2][3] The main aims of the caucus are to put pressure on the Labour leadership to take a tougher stance onimmigration to prevent Reform from winning red wall seats at thenext general election, and to give red wall MPs a louder voice to tackle a perceived lack of representation for their constituencies, andpost-industrial red wall constituencies in particular, in the government.[1][2]
Since its founding, the caucus has pursued aconstructive approach to the Labour leadership and the government of Labour prime ministerKeir Starmer, with the intention of improving Labour's public image with its traditional working class voters.[4] However, it is believed that the group will pursue a more aggressive approach as the next general election nears, in order to address the threat of Reform UK.[2] The group has held meetings with government ministers and senior figures in Starmer's team, including thework and pensions secretaryLiz Kendall and Starmer's former chief of strategyDeborah Mattinson, to influence government policy.[2][5] It has also met with senior party officials to discuss the most effective way to portray Labour's policy positions on issues important to the group such as immigration.[4]
After the poor Labour results in the2025 local elections it lobbied Prime MinisterKeir Starmer to promote policies on border control, tackling anti-social behaviour, slowGP access and the cost-of-living for the working-class.[6] During the2025 Labour Party deputy leadership election, the caucus hosted ahusting of the candidates and endorsed the election of a female candidate from Northern England "who has the ability and capacity to act as a strong voice for our areas".[7][8]
The Red Wall Caucus has mainly concerned itself withopposing immigration, with the group arguing that immigration is opposed by the British people.[4][2] Its leader Jo White has called on the government to introduce a newID card scheme for immigrants to act as a deterrence against immigration, with immigrants required to have an ID card to useNHS services or have a job.[9] The group has also called on theHome Office to emphasisemass deportation initiatives.[1] To prevent the loss of votes to Reform at the next general election, it has called on government ministers to improve their messaging on immigration and other major issues.[2]
The Red Wall Caucus also focuses on issues which it identifies as affectingworking class communities in particular, the traditional voter base of the Labour Party. Alongside immigration, these issues include thecost-of-living crisis, improving access to NHSGPs, tacklinganti-social behaviour and crime and getting people offwelfare benefits.[2] It has also called for more government investment in areas of the red wall and those areas in the North and the Midlands which they identify as "left behind" in particular.[10][11] To this end, the caucus has called for the government to stop usingThe Green Book, a document used byHM Treasury to evaluate the costs and benefits of new infrastructure projects, which it believes overexaggerates costs and downplays benefits.[11]
In April 2025, the Red Wall Caucus co-signed anopen letter with theBlue Labour andLabour Growth Group parliamentary caucuses calling for the Labour government of Keir Starmer to introducedigital ID cards to tackle immigration, ensuring "we know exactly who is here", as well asunreported employment,benefit fraud and theblack market, and also to better integrate people with public services such as the NHS.[12]
The Red Wall Caucus is aparliamentary caucus andpressure group ofbackbench Labour MPs in theParliamentary Labour Party.[2] Members sit on the backbenches of the House of Commons and represent constituencies in the red wall, covering the Midlands and Northern England.[5][2]
Following its launch in November 2024, the Red Wall Caucus was reported byPoliticsHome to have had "around a couple of dozen people within the Parliamentary Labour Party".[1] In December 2024,The Daily Telegraph reported that the group had 35 MPs as members.[2] As of May 2025,[13] the caucus has 43 members.[10][14]
Since its launch in November 2024, the Red Wall Caucus had been led byJo White, the MP forBassetlaw since the 2024 general election.[1][2] White is also the group'sconvener.[10]
Ideologicallyprogressive Labour politicians have opposed the Red Wall Caucus's focus on opposing immigration and fighting Reform. These politicians believe that doing so would alienate Labour'smetropolitan voter base in cities like London to the benefit of the left-wingGreen Party of England and Wales andindependent politicians, who are believed to pose a greater challenge to Labour than Reform UK.[5]
With the formation of the group, the Labour leadership has directed more of its attention on addressing the potential threat of Reform UK. Labour leader and prime minister Keir Starmer has criticised high immigration rates under previous Conservative governments as an "open border experiment", as part of a shift toward focusing on tackling immigration.[5] TheStarmerite thinktankLabour Together and its chief executiveJonathan Ashworth have worked with the group to promote the work of Starmer's government on immigration and fight Reform UK.[10] According toMichael Gove, the editor ofThe Spectator, the group has the support of Starmer's chief of staffMorgan McSweeney.[15]
Harriet Harman, who served as the actingleader of the Labour Party in 2010 and 2015 and asmother of the House from 2008 to 2024, said the formation of the caucus was "problematic" because it made it seem like members of the caucus did not believe the Labour leadership were working effectively on the issues it campaigned on. She also said she was worried that its formation would lead to increasedfactionalism in the Labour Party and Starmer's Labour government, which she compared to the disruptivefive families of the Conservative Party underRishi Sunak. While she maintained that she supported groups of Labour MPs for specific communities of MPs like women or for specific locations likecoastal towns orLondon, she also said "we don't want"regionalism or factionalism, and called on members of the Red Wall Caucus to "support the government" and "play their part in the Parliamentary Labour Party" without "set[ting] up all these flipping groups".[16]