Labour in turmoil: Your views

Gordon Brown's leadership of the Labour Party has come under increasing strain following the poor results for Labour in the recent round of local and Euro elections.

Current and former members of the Labour Party have been giving their reactions to the recent political turmoil and their assessment on whether Gordon Brown should stay or go.

I joined the Labour Party when I was 26, so I've been a member for 16 years, but I'm now thinking I'll leave. I've had enough. The government and the party that I helped elect in 1997 doesn't exist anymore.

I think this country should have had the chance to vote Brown in. We voted for Blair but got Brown. I think Gordon Brown is sadly out of touch with the electorate at the moment.

The nation has voted and put forward its feelings and the party now sees him as a liability.

I think it's the end for Gordon Brown when it comes to high level politics. He won't admit it and will probably be pushed out, rather than volunteering.

The Labour Party is experiencing that difficult third term period. I don't think any party can see out a third term successfully. The electorate has now said "you're not the party we want."

There are parallels with the last Tory government. They also had a dominant leader in Thatcher, who left mid term and was replaced by John Major. It's a third term thing.

We need to limit the damage and Gordon Brown should announce he'll stand down before the next election. In the meantime we need to elect a new leader and then have an early general election - possibly this year.

Hopefully, with a new broom in place, people will be willing to listen to Labour's policies and we might be able to limit the seat loss.

I think it's almost impossible for Labour to win the next election without an incredibly charismatic leader and no-one has come forward who has either caught the public's imagination or gathered the support of colleagues sufficiently.

I was an old-style Labour member, but I moved away from that and embraced the New Labour message. I still think that's the way forward for the party.

We don't want to become indistinguishable from the Tories, or go too far to the left as the traditional working class doesn't exist any more in the way it used to.

We need to demonstrate we understand the issues facing people - education, jobs, health care.

New Labour's message is the right one, but we need someone who can articulate it properly and we need to show we have a moral compass in the party and in our leader.

Also, the government wasn't listening to the party or the country - there was Iraq plus the turn-round on the vote on the Lisbon Treaty which was a manifesto pledge. I felt I couldn't trust them any more.

The turnout in the recent elections was low and that will always affect the result. Pivotal for me was seeing the Labour vote in the north-west go down so much it allowed the BNP into Brussels. It said it all about the disillusionment of the electorate. Labour aren't giving the voters anything positive to vote for.

The prime minister hasn't done himself any favours. He dithered over the expenses scandal and he toyed with the electorate on whether or not he'd call an early general election. You can't do that with the electorate, they aren't stupid.

He should have gone to the polls when he had the chance, now Gordon Brown should do the honourable thing and resign as PM.

He isn't a front man; a leader is supposed to be charismatic. Brown comes across as a dour Scotsman and I think he should go.

When Labour were elected in 1997 I didn't expect what I got. The New Labour project was a lot of spin and froth and I believe it has finally hit the buffers. I won't rejoin the Labour Party until it comes back to its core values.

Labour are heading to the type of crash the Tories experienced in 1997. It all depends on how die-hard the Labour voters really are and whether they'll bother to turn out in a general election.

I would be more concerned if the Tories had gained the 6% that Labour lost - although I don't understand how any Labour voter could vote BNP.

Looking back over the past few days, I think there are Labour MPs who need to sit down and think about what they stand for. I'm a Blairite and I believe in party loyalty.

I think some politicians need to remember who they are there to represent. What will destroy the Labour Party are the people who walk out of government because they don't get what they want.

I think Gordon Brown could have done better, and there are some things he could have done differently. He has made some brilliant decisions and also made some monumental mistakes.

When it comes to whether he should stay or go - if Gordon Brown wants to stand down, then that's up to Gordon Brown.

The attempts of a small group of Westminster MPs to unseat him is wrong and it is not, I believe, what the party wants. I think he is the man we all need to rally round.

I think winning the next election will be difficult, but not impossible. Considering everything that's happened the Tories still polled the same as they did in the 2004 elections - which was only one year before they lost a general election. Bearing that in mind, I think a Labour win will be hard work, but it's still possible.

I joined the Labour Party in 1993, but left in 2003 because Labour did nothing for me and my family.

At the moment, I think Labour is in a complete mess. You see MPs on the television all the time saying they must listen to ordinary people. They are certainly not listening to any people I know.

They have no policies that mean anything to ordinary working people, especially child-free couples and singles.

I think Gordon Brown should go. I've never been a fan. He wasn't voted for and I don't agree with his policies. He is too far to the left and doesn't care about working people.

The joke is there are these ministers who have resigned, but they can't do anything to get rid of him - even though they know they will lose the next election badly.

Brown has been a control freak, so there's no obvious successor. No-one will stand up to him.

I expected to get a fair deal from a Labour government, but they don't care about working people. I don't think I will ever vote Labour again. Neil Merrin Smith

I had such great hopes when Blair was voted in. I thought it would be a good and decent government. I feel disappointed and distraught. I never expected a Labour government to lie, eg Iraq and the vote on the Lisbon Treaty.

I expected to get a fair deal from a Labour government, but they don't care about working people. I don't think I will ever vote Labour again.

I will be voting Conservative in the next general election. I have some friends who are staunch Labour supporters and even they are having second thoughts about voting Labour. Their problem is they don't know who else to vote for.

Labour claim to be the party of aspiration. I grew up in a council house. I've worked hard and studied all my life - in fact I'm still studying - because I want to improve my life. You would think the party of aspiration would reward that. But all Brown has done is make it better for people not to work, while people like me just get taxed more and more.

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