by
Les May
I VOTE Labour.
In the referendum I voted to remain in the EU, but accepted the
result. At no time have I felt it necessary to criticise Labour’s
policy about Brexit. It has confounded the ‘scribblers’
in the media whose criticism has had to be limited to grumbling about
its lack of clarity. How
nice it would
have been for
them if
Labour
had declared its support for, or opposition to, a further referendum.
They
would
have been able to look forward to lots
of ‘exclusive’
briefings from Labour MPs in favour of or against the policy,
as
the
equivalent of open warfare gripped the
party. It
has not happened.
Credit
for this not happening is not due to Corbyn alone. Those seen as
‘big names’
in the
party
who
do not entirely agree with his stance,
John McDonnell,
Emily
Thornberry, Keir Starmer, plus those Labour MPs which some sections
of the media would find more congenial as Labour leader, e.g. Yvette
Cooper, Hillary Benn
and
Stephen Kinnock, have been muted in their criticism.
Criticism has tended to come
from Labour MPs eager to convince us that if only it would adopt
their preferred strategy of supporting a second referendum and
campaigning to remain in the EU, the party’s poll ratings would
magically improve.
What
people who believe this forget is that Labour does not have a
majority in Parliament. Labour is essentially a bystander with no
power to influence the decisions of the next prime minister, who at
this moment is being selected by 160,000 Tory party members in no way
representative of the wider population and who
seem
happy to trash the economy, the union with Scotland and tear up the
international treaty which gave guarantees to the people of Ireland
in
a single minded pursuit of leaving the EU.
If
Labour did
adopt
such a strategy it would have the support of the Welsh and Scottish
nationalists, LibDems,
MPs
who identify themselves as Independent and some Tories. Even if
collectively the different groupings could muster a majority,
constitutionally there appears to be no mechanism by which Parliament
can prevent a Johnson or Hunt led government forcing us to leave the
EU without a deal. To
believe that Labour declaring itself in favour of a second referendum
and that it will campaign to remain in the EU will in some way
influence what happens when a Johnson or Hunt led government takes
over is the politics of delusion.
The
people who believe this are not alone in being deluded. Corbyn, Hunt
and Johnson all
share
their own delusions.
They believe that if
they become Prime Minister they will be able to negotiate
with the EU to produce something that is different from the deal that
was
rejected three times by Parliament. Corbyn has already tried to
sweet talk the Irish government to no avail. I doubt whether the
other 27 countries of the EU are exactly quaking in the boots at the
prospect of meeting Boris or Jeremy who both seem to think that
threatening to leave with ‘no
deal’
is going to wring some
major concession from the EU.
Labour’s
worst nightmare has to be that blame
will be dumped on it
for the chaos
that will follow if Hunt or Johnson have to ‘put
their money where their mouth is’
and the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Labour
will be accused of doing ‘too
little, too late’
by
people who don’t want to acknowledge that its ability to
significantly affect whether the UK leaves the EU after the
referendum was always limited.
Labour’s best option now is probably to look to a damage limitation
strategy.
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