The party grassroots and Labour voters are anti-Brexit. It's this which must guide the leadership.
2018 is a vital year in the Brexit battle, and there are great opportunities for Labour to pick apart May’s Brexit. But the party needs to turn its Brexit fudge into clarity. The voters need it, members need it and the country needs it too.
In the coming year, the government will have to negotiate transition before it knows its Brexit destination — and it will have to find a solution to the frankly impossible conundrum of separating Northern Ireland from Ireland without harming peace and economic stability.
May will no longer be able to pretend that she can have a pick’n’mix Brexit, and will have to take on one side of her Cabinet by opting for hard or soft Brexit.
The Prime Minister will rack up quite a few miles offering perks and deals to different EU partners, but it will be those battles closer to home that could really unravel the government, and Labour should be maximising them.
Labour can win the Brexit debate – but the party too has its own choices to make. While the government struggles to decide between two extreme forms of Brexit, Labour has a golden opportunity to look at all options, especially given shifting public opinion for the UK.
At Best for Britain we are fighting for all options to be on the table, including No Brexit, when the meaningful vote comes around.
There are three main reasons why Labour should shift its policy to include a No Brexit option.
1. This is likely to reflect what the Labour Party Membership want.
Many polls and surveys have consistently put staying in the EU well above 70% amongst the Labour Party membership.
This will help the leadership get the clarity they need. The party need to look at creating new forums and networks, harnessing new technology to allow members to get messages through – loudly and clearly.
If the Party leadership believe in bottom up democracy, it has never been more vital to listen than on this issue.
2. Hardening the position will help Labour at the ballot box.
Research done by Best for Britain shows that many voters may have picked Labour as the anti-Brexit vehicle in 2017.
These voters are likely to have lent Labour their vote but not made a long-term commitments to the party (yet).
The real electoral battle ground is for the new floating vote: people that support staying in the EU, many of whom flocked to whichever party was most likely to beat the Conservatives- because of Brexit.
This suggests that by appealing to voters that wanted to stay in the EU, Labour will likely be able to maintain and extend their gains made in 2017.
According to Ipsos Mori, Labour has the votes of 54% of remain voters to hold onto in the next election. Meanwhile the Tories have 26% of remain voters still to lose.
3. To attract new voters as well as keep the ones Labour gained, all options need to be on the table.
I and my colleagues at Best for Britain have been campaigning to win a meaningful vote on Brexit with all options on the table, including staying in the European Union.
This is not the position of an ideological campaign: it’s about what’s best for Britain – providing a safety net the country is crying out for.
With David Davis now in post despite lying to Parliament, Liam Fox in charge of trade talks despite countless examples of incompetence, and with Theresa May barely hanging on to leadership of the Tory party, the country needs a real set of alternatives to those being presented by the government.
It’s time for Labour to develop these alternatives. Labour should focus on a jobs-first new deal with the EU, whether inside or outside.
It should focus on deep discussions as to how its agenda might be implemented within EU rules, and seek support for what would be the micro-targeting of investment in the most deprived areas of the UK.
All of Labour’s stated objectives in the manifesto can be delivered within the context of EU Membership. The economic fallout of leaving the EU would most likely shatter that programme.
Labour is the only party that can offer what the majority of people who think that Brexit is a mistake actually need and want: leadership that reflects this view and a safe, steady path to serious consideration of the no Brexit option.
The local elections in May will be a particular test as to where the votes of those that wanted to stay in the EU will go- Labour should consolidate its position before then.
2018 could be the year where we can show the electoral dividend of this position. And if Labour doesn’t shift, other pro-European forces may pop up and take away the vital proportion of voters that got Labour over the line in many marginal seats.
Eloise Todd is CEO of Best for Britain. She tweets here.
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17 Responses to “Opposing Brexit might be the best strategy for Labour in 2018. Here’s why”
Will
The EU is no more inherently neo liberal than government from Westminster. The European Parliament must at some point supersede the Council of Ministers as the decision making body, then the EU will be more Democratic and accountable than the UK government.
Even now the EU offers more protection to workers,, the environment, health and safety than the UK government.
The real danger to Labour voters living standards will come if we lose frictionless access to the single market and suffer a Brexit recession with lost jobs, companies relocating and shortfalls in government revenue threatening Labours program.
Chris
Labour are second in my constituency to the Tories, I voted Lib Dem last time, but I would switch to Labour if they oppose Brexit, otherwise, the Lib Dems will still have my vote, even though they are in third place.
Robert
This is the only way out of this mess. A Labour Party supporting remaining in the EU – after a second referendum – would sweep the board. Look at what even Heseltine is saying. Membership of the EU is not incompatible with sort of programme the present leadership of putting forward, which, for continental Europe, is quite moderate. A labour-led UK could transform the EU, if it could also undertake major constitutional reform at home. This is the opportunity of a lifetime to have a reforming labour government, let’s not throw it away.
Cloud Cuckoo
Labour’s ‘core voter’ is no longer Alf Garnett – who voted Tory as well as being a classic UKIP flagwaving type. It was the Tony Booth character who was the Labour core voter then, and is now, though he would probably be the grandson.
So Labour would not be giving up on core voters. It would be gaining new ones, while not wasting energy trying to persuade the ones that have drifted far right as they have got older to stay.
ID508216
why is my comment still awaiting moderation?