29 June 2017

Financial Times: Jeremy Corbyn is a Brexit bystander

[...] The split in Labour over Brexit runs deep. Mr Corbyn has always been hostile to the EU, viewing it as a rich man’s club and a capitalist plot. The Labour leader has voted against every act of EU integration in the past 30 years. He is committed to ending the UK’s membership of the single market and wants to impose immigration controls. Others in his party take a different view. Labour has around 50 MPs, MEPs and peers, led by Labour MP Chuka Umunna, who have recently started calling for the UK to remain a member of the single market and the Customs Union. They believe this is crucial for Britain’s economy. Standing between Mr Corbyn and Mr Umunna is Sir Keir Starmer, the Brexit spokesman, who is widely respected, but tries to bridge the gap with sometimes impenetrable pronouncements. The central question for Labour is how long Mr Corbyn will maintain this stance. He is enjoying a political resurgence, with personal poll ratings now above those of Mrs May. He was hailed as a hero by the crowd at the Glastonbury festival last weekend. But unless he shifts in the direction championed by Mr Umunna, he will be unable to exploit the divisions over the Customs Union and single market within Tory ranks.

There are two reasons why Mr Corbyn ought to be tempted in such a direction. First, much of Labour’s electoral base would welcome it. Before the general election, the party was concerned that it would lose working class voters to Ukip. But the result showed how millions of young people who hate Brexit have rallied to Mr Corbyn. As Rachel Sylvester pointed out in her Times column this week, turnout at the election among 18 to 24-year-olds rose from 43 per cent in 2015 to 58 per cent this year. Labour led the Tories by 17 percentage points among graduates, many of whom are firmly pro-Remain. These voters will be severely disappointed if Mr Corbyn continues to pose as a Brexit champion. The second reason why Mr Corbyn should shift to a softer position on Brexit is that it aligns with his belief that the prime goal of policy must be to preserve jobs. Denis MacShane, a former Labour MP and committed pro-European, believes Mr Corbyn’s current position makes no sense. “A hard Brexit will cost the UK heavily in terms of foreign direct investment. A departure from the single market will devastate jobs in the industrial areas that are Labour’s heartland”.

At present, there is little sign that Mr Corbyn is prepared to make such a shift. As Mr MacShane says: “Many Labour MPs remain frightened of losing the white working-class vote in old mining and metalworking constituencies in the Midlands and the North . . . In poor, post-industrial areas there are not yet many votes in being pro-European.” But until Labour develops a coherent policy, it will be unable to exploit the growing divisions over Brexit on the Conservative benches. And Mr Corbyn will remain a bystander on the biggest issue of our time — however much he may delight the Glastonbury crowds. 

Full piece on Financial Times (subscription required)

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