The country is in desperate need of a strong opposition
When David Cameron declared, during the EU referendum that Brexit risked peace across Europe, he was roundly derided by his critics.
Just hours after the now former PM’s speech, Boris Johnson popped up to declare that such talk around Brexit starting World War Three was ‘totally demented’.
Almost a year later, and one of the arch Brexiteers, the former Conservative Leader, Lord Howard has invoked the memory of the Falklands War to explain his belief that Theresa May will do everything she has to protect Gibraltar during the Brexit negotiations.
It is, sadly, the latest in a long line of falsehoods uttered by the Leave campaign.
The Vote Leave battle bus claims around £350 million extra a week for the NHS have been trounced on more than one occasion, while last week Brexit Secretary, David Davis warned that immigration might not necessarily fall once the UK leaves the EU.
Those in and around Vote Leave might well argue that their campaign was about taking back control of immigration, not necessarily cutting it, but let’s recall Michael Gove’s exchange with ITV’s Robert Peston just weeks before the referendum:
Robert Peston: You would reduce immigration from outside the EU and inside the EU to tens of thousands.
Michael Gove: Yes.
Then there were all the claims by Vote Leave that voting to end our membership of the EU would not lead to the break-up of the UK. How does that one square with Scotland’s First Minister now formally asking Downing Street for the powers needed to hold a second independence referendum. Or indeed the outcome of the recent elections to Stormont which, for the first time, saw the unionists lose their majority.
And what of Davis’s assurance to in the Commons in January that the UK Government would secure a free trade deal with the EU that delivers ‘the exact same benefits’ as our current membership of the single market? How does that one fit with the insistence of leaders across Europe that the UK cannot and will not be better off outside the EU?
Remember also those claims about Turkey joining the EU imminently? In November, the European Parliament voted to halt accession talks between the two, a stance how supported by Austria.
Project Reality
The list could continue, but the fact that remains that on so many fundamental points Vote Leave’s assertions have been proven to be false. It’s not project fear, but project reality now and it’s Theresa May, now Brexiteer in chief, who must be held to account for what was promised by Vote Leave.
The political landscape should therefore be fertile for Labour to hold the Government’s feet to the fire, yet it is now missing in action.
The irony though is that, as explained so clearly in Tim Shipman’s book on the Brexit campaign, having put in a half-hearted effort (at best) to keep the UK in the EU, those around Jeremy Corbyn are now fearful that the right-wingers in the Conservative Party will now seek to water down worker rights.
Perhaps more effort by the Labour leader’s office could have prevented such fears from arising?
Brexit is one of the most pivotal moments in the country’s history, the results of which are, if we are honest, still unknown. At such a moment the government needs a strong opposition, holding it to account, garnering support and ensuring that ministers do not feel their number one priority it to placate the hard Brexiteers in the Conservative party.
What we don’t need is an opposition which, according to John Curtice of Strathclyde University, faces being weakened still further with a potential 12 point swing in support at the local elections in May, from Labour to the Conservatives.
Labour’s dire position in the poll clearly goes deeper than just one person, but Jeremy Corbyn is, plain and simple, a drag on the party. While he remains in office there is no way that he can revive the fortunes of the party among those that matter, the voters.
It goes further also than simply the political calculations of one party. The Government needs strong opposition; the voters need and deserve a strong and realistic alternative Government; and the country needs a clear, optimistic and progressive vision for post Brexit Britain that the country can get behind and, dare I say it, perhaps get excited about.
Sadly, we have none of these coming from Labour’s frontbench and, in their heart of hearts, many around Jeremy Corbyn know it. It’s time to have the courage to say so.
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor at Left Foot Forward
At Left Foot Forward, we’ll continue to hold the government to account throughout the Brexit negotiations. Can you chip in to support our coverage? Click here to make a contribution.
5 Responses to “Labour is squandering an opportunity by failing to call out Brexiteers’ lies”
nhsgp
Where was the 60 billion pound cost mentioned by remain?
What about the claim that min wage migrants are net contributors? If they are, we can cut taxes to min wage levels for all.
You just don’t get it do you.
The reason people voted out was because they look around, and the claims that migrants don’t use the NHS, that migrants earn more than 38K each [break even income], and what they saw at A&E, in the jobs market, at their GP’s surgery completely contradicted the claims.
Second, just how much have the elite and the big parties screwed the population over that they decide to vote. out.
Aks the question the other way round. Just how much have you screwed the population that they vote against you.
Fred
I voted Labour under Blair, but I couldn’t vote for them again.
This recent lurch to the Left has shown that socialist nutcases still exist in large numbers in the party and are waiting in the wings at any time to try to take control. It’s very frightening. You might vote for a moderate, modernist only to end up with some fruitcake who quotes chairman Mao and supports the IRA and taxes the hell out of you.
I hope that when eventually Labour does become more moderate, people remain aware of the very real danger of the hard left that lurks within and stay away from the Labour party.
Rod P
Firstly, the claim on the Vote Leave (official campaign, run by Tories, nothing to do with UKIP) bus of £350 million pounds, did not specify an exact amount to spend on the NHS. It merely said “let’s fund our NHS instead”. So the figure available could be anything from £1 to £350 million.
Also, the £350 million was an underestimate. After the Brexit vote, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) actually came out and said the figure was £376 million (gross), which equates to £199 million a week net. This equates to building and running a hospital every week and a half for a city the size of Leicester. The public would rather OUR tax money was spent in OUR country.
Alma
Too many lies around! Who can we trust?
Hamish McGranahan
Completely agree. Cannot believe Corbyn did not ask a single question about Brexit at PMQs on the day that Article 50 was brought into force.
Luckily, the SNP are performing the role of Opposition in Westminster.