A group of Jeremy Corbyn supporters have launched a campaign to put their party squarely against 'hard Brexit' - but will it do the trick?
Many have complained of the Labour Party leadership’s lack of clarity when it comes to their position on Brexit.
Is Jeremy Corbyn against Brexit? For Brexit? Is the Labour Party going to oppose Theresa May’s ‘hard Brexit’ or will it lay low when D(ivorce) Day comes?
A new campaign backed by grassroots activists and key figures in the party is hoping to give a definitive answer to these questions, by guaranteeing Labour policy includes supporting a vote on the final deal.
Labour for a People’s Vote officially launches today, after 62 local Labour branches pledge to debate a motion calling on the party to “oppose Tory Brexit and win a radical Labour government.”
It argues that if the final deal doesn’t pass ‘Labour’s Six Tests’, the party should immediately stand in the way of Tory Brexit.
Mike Buckley, one of the founders of the campaign and a local Labour activist, said:
“Whether people voted Leave or Remain in 2016 they all voted for what they thought was a better future for them and their families. But the Tories’ Brexit deal will cost jobs, close businesses, and put at risk our NHS, workers’ rights and global alliances. The people deserve a chance to give their verdict on the Tories’ failed negotiation – only Labour can make that happen.”
The campaign is supported by transport union TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes, and shadow chancellor advisor and senior economist Ann Pettifor. The founding statement also argues for a rejection of a Norway-style EEA deal as “untenable.”
Earlier this month, a young Momentum activist named Alena Ivanova launched a petition to trigger a referendum inside the organisation, to decide whether the group should support the People’s Vote. If successful, the petition would also push for a vote on the matter at Labour’s annual conference in September.
Commenting on the launch of the campaign, Pettifor said:
“Europe and Britain face a geopolitical threat from the far right and even from fascism as people demand that strong leaders protect them from markets that create joblessness, homelessness and despair. We are not campaigning for the status quo but for a radical transformation of Europe. Only an alliance of a left-led Labour Party with socialists and progressive partners across the continent can challenge the dominant Anglo-American economic model of globalisation that is causing such harm in Britain and across the world.
“Democracy must be at the core of this process – and that means giving the British people the right to decide their destiny.”
The weekend hiked up the pressure on Corbyn and his frontbenchers, after thousands of people took to the streets of London demanding a right to vote on the final deal.
And while Labour has said it respects the result of the 2016 referendum, it has also promised as part of its manifesto to scrap the Conservative plan and “replace it with fresh negotiating priorities”. That would include keeping Britain in the single market and the customs union, as well as guarantee residency rights for EU citizens in the country.
And Labour’s Brexit negotiator, Keir Starmer, has guaranteed that the party would not stand for breaches of its Six Tests on the final Brexit deal.
Starmer’s six tests for the Brexit deal are:
1. Does it ensure a strong and collaborative future relationship with the EU?
2. Does it deliver the “exact same benefits” as we currently have as members of the Single Market and Customs Union?
3. Does it ensure the fair management of migration in the interests of the economy and communities?
4. Does it defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom?
5. Does it protect national security and our capacity to tackle cross-border crime?
6. Does it deliver for all regions and nations of the UK?
So will this new campaign be the final drop? Could Corbyn come out for the People’s Vote any day now? And if so could we see a united front on it in parliament, forget by Corbyn and staunch Remainer, Green MP Caroline Lucas?
Answers on a postcard…
Joana Ramiro is a reporter for Left Foot Forward. You can follow her on Twitter for all sorts of rants here.
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