Red wall Tory MPs are being targeted by Labour attack ads over their failure to support a ban on fracking, as part of an overhaul of the party’s social media effort. A new in-house digital team, filled with former Google and tech start-up employees, has been building new applications for the party to create, target and publish swift social media ads at swing voters. They have so far concentrated on fracking, the rising costs of mortgages, the Tory record on the economy and Labour’s opposition to some of the direct action taken by Just Stop Oil protesters. Insiders said the party was shunning Twitter in favour of Facebook and Instagram, used more often by key groups of voters. They are also trying to deploy messages through the real experiences of voters, rather than using politicians. The party is preparing a new digital and data academy to educate staff in data science, while a digital training scheme is planned for the new year as the party switches to election mode.
It comes as Labour attempts to hold on to the poll gains it has made during two tumultuous months of Conservative infighting that saw Keir Starmer’s party claim a double-digit lead. Labour is spending thousands of pounds a week on targeted social media ads, according to Facebook records. “We now run a digital attack programme that takes the fight to where the Tories are vulnerable: with swing voters in their own constituencies – not just on Twitter to make ourselves feel good,” said a senior Labour source. Labour’s most targeted strike came after its vote to ban fracking last month. It was voted down by the government despite nervousness among many Tory MPs in northern seats, where the prospect of fracking has met serious public resistance. “Your Tory MP chose not to back Labour’s ban on fracking in Stoke-on-Trent North,” says one of the ads aimed at constituents of Jonathan Gullis, one of the Tory MPs to have won their seats from Labour in 2019. Similar ads were aimed at the fellow red wall constituencies including Scunthorpe, South Ribble, Warrington South, Rother Valley and Bassetlaw. Brendan Clarke-Smith, the Bassetlaw MP, refused to support fracking even as a minister at the time – saying he wanted to “see more evidence” before any drilling was allowed to go ahead. Meanwhile, some voters – especially middle-aged women – are being targeted with ads showing that Labour opposes disruptive direct action being taken by climate protesters, despite criticism from the left of the party. A clip of Starmer taking issue with the protesters during an interview has been pumped out online. Some 35% of the ads were targeted at women aged 45-55. “Just Stop Oil protesters are posing a danger by blocking ambulances and emergency services,” the ad reads. “Labour pushed for longer sentences for people who glue themselves to roads and motorways.”
In recent ads, Labour is targeting those affected by the mortgage crisis, with most aimed at young professionals. Another online video says the Tories have “failed on the economy”, to try to halt any recovery of the government’s reputation for economic competence. “One of our strategic priorities has been to build a new professional, confident, creative and aggressive digital team that is embedded in, and ruthlessly focused on, delivering the party’s political and communications strategy,” said a senior Labour source. • This article was amended on 6 November 2022. An earlier version stated that Tory MPs were being targeted “over their failure to oppose a ban on fracking”; as was made clear elsewhere in the article, it was their failure to support a ban that was being highlighted.