Labour is still pretending today that its six Brexit tests are relevant, when it knows they were literally never achievable.
And it is pretending that it could renegotiate the terms of Brexit, even now, if only it was given the chance, which it will not be. A general, election is not going to happen on this issue: the Tories and DUP will not permit it.
In March 2016 I was told by those very close to Corbyn that Brexit was not an issue for Labour. It was all about ‘blue upon blue' in-fighting and so the policy was to let them get on with it. We have all seen the consequences. And the policy is still being maintained now, whilst posturing behind demands that are very obviously absurd because they are clearly undeliverable.
If this ever had any value for Labour, and personally I doubt it, then it has no longer. The Brexit deal is on the table. Pretending any significant revision is now likely is wrong: 27 nations are not coming back to this again. This is pretty much what is available now. So there are just three choices.
The first is Accept and then make very clear what is expected of the subsequent trade negotiations. It is important to remember that two more years (at least) of this are on the cards.
The second is to say Leave, and go for a hard Brexit. Most of the Labour membership is utterly opposed to this and so it is not an option. The Lexiteers are a tiny minority in the party, thankfully.
Third, there is the second referendum option. But given Leave is not an option this can only be a choice between Accept and Remain. Labour still, then, has to spell out what it would want if Accept is the option because the reality is that a great deal will remain in the table during that period.
But, so far, Labour is not saying this. It is pretending there are options that if they were ever viable (which I dispute) have gone.
There are moments when the pragmatists have to be at the front of politics. These are the times when the games are over: when real decisions have to be made. This is one of them. And Labour had better step up to the mark very soon. It's that or move into unforgivable territory. The time to get real and abandon the policy outlined to me in March 2016, which is the primary reason why I became a critic of Corbyn's leadership, has at last arrived. And the time scale for change is short. It's probably over by tonight.
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I say Leave with a good deal (Accept) and go for it in the trade negotiations.
Then take us back in asap. Perhaps we need to swallow the harsh medicine in order to cure us of our anti-EU bent?
As someone who doesn’t want this, I have to grin and bear it. I still dream of a GE and the new party turning around and calling time on BREXIT and asking the world to forgive little Britain for its brain fart.
I fantasise about Bo Jo and the grinning goons whose money magically appeared that funded Leave being in court on charges of treason; Reece Mogg’s children voting Labour, starting up farming communes in deepest Dorset and disowning Pater; Dan Hannan and Nigel Farage being bankrupted as they are forced to pay back their wages and expenses for wasting our time and money as MEPs undermining the system they should have worked in professionally; laugh and cheer on our security forces as they defeat any popular uprising arising with a STOP decision with rubber bullets and making those arrested learn Classical French and eat foie gras and saurekraut.
I’m not really for another people’s vote because I do not see any acknowledgement of the problems with the first one – so what will we get next – a rerun of the first? No thank you. If I knew that certain people has been censured and also imprisoned I could tolerate a second vote. But that is not the case.
And you are right. Labour can only let the Tories self destruct so much. And no matter how bad things get, May will be in denial (just like she was at the Home Office). Her obdurateness is not a strength – it is a millstone around OUR necks.
The coup de grace has to be applied and hopefully it will be quick, attractive to the voter and sensible but also courageous.
But the pivotal moment for me now is the Commons vote.
It’s going to take a very long time to get back into the EU if we leave next March. Every member of the EU27 has a veto. Spain will want Gilbraltar and you can imagine what pound of flesh all the others will demand, with very little good-will being left over.
The deal which May has arranged is incredibly one-sided (and not in our favour).
We need to try our hardest to remain in the next 4 months available.
Rich
Who knows?
It depends on how the BREXIT is actually handled. The upper echelons of the EU do not want us to go. I think that watching us suffer would make other states consider their position if they wanted out. No one is going to be unhurt by this. Consequences abound. But once that point is made I think that we’ll be OK going back in.
Things are a lot easier for everyone if we are in to be frank.
Gibraltar? So what? It’s not part of the British Isles. Let Spain have it. If Argentina was part of the EU, then let them have the Falklands too whilst we’re at it for all I care.
The British mainland is my concern – the impact of BREXIT and the callous social and economic policies of those unprincipled and reckless people called the Tory party.
Hear, hear. Blair is making more sense and Mandelson is about with current Labour spin in “secret”. I no longer feel Labour.
At first, like most of us, I was prepared to give Corbyn a chance as a decent man who’d stood up and been counted on important issues over years when others were feathering their nests.
But today I look at him and see a quenched ember – fire has left his soul and he’s now counting down to – whatever he can arrange in a soothing pattern, as he awaits his quietus.
Caroline Lucas and Nicola Sturgeon are the only people in British politics who see beyond the ends of their noses – or the zeros on their bank accounts. And the general public hasn’t enough education to recognise truths when they’re spoken.
I agree
Either Lucas or Sturgeon would get my vote. Both have a bigger vision for the country that I could engage with and they can articulate it. Neither are in hoc to defunct ideologies or to special interests that might be promoting them. Both get sustainabilty
Pity there are’nt a lot more like them.
PS Ill forgive the nationalism as i can empathise with it if not wish for it
Labour will have its general election but not on the terms it expects. Although the result will be close, I suspect there will be sufficient MPs to vote for the deal, largely on the basis of pragmatism and the general desire to move on. The end result of that will be a big boost for Teresa May and a clear lead for the Tories in the opinion polls. Despite the Tories terrible performance on numerous aspects of life, I think they will risk an election and this time I fear Labour might suffer a significant defeat. Labour and Corbyn will look weak, indecisive and possibly split.
Has all the hoo-ha about “no-deal Brexit” just provided a device for May to seem a strong leader ?. The manner inn which the “no deal” Tory opposition has faded away makes me think it has been. It is clear the Tory in-fighting has swamped the airwaves and not let any alternative voice be heard. The almost-half of the country who voted remain and the young people deprived of any say in their future have been badly served.
I still live in the hope that someone somewhere will do the right thing – even Corbyn.
If he is going to betray reason then let us see it first. He will have to play a hand in the game sooner or later. And BREXIT is still one of the most toxic issues ever to face us in my life time.
We are here because of May and her dysfunctional party – not because of Corbyn.
BREXIT is unprecedented. Anything could happen because it already has. And it will keep happening. It is not a normal situation with normal rules. In fact – what rules?
A vote for Sturgeon? Yes – why not? Our politicos believe in the power of competition so let her appeal to the voters of England. Who knows, she might kick May and Corbyn up the arse and mobilise a cogent way forward. But I’ve read that Corbyn is resisting the second vote movement being present at a TV debate. What is that about? Is it true?
I don’t favour a people’s vote at all since no-one seems to be concerned about the illegality of the first vote. But that movement deserves to be heard at least.
You see? What a mess. The truth of the matter that is not being enabled is that the process (such that it is) needs to stop because it is flawed and not democratically safe. No one is in control. At least no one who we can see.
Stop BREXIT NOW. That’s what would get my vote.
I really think you need to get a sense of proportion over Brexit Richard. My colleagues and I were not made redundant last year because of Brexit. It was not the EU’s fault either. The blame lies with the Tory Government’s evil austerity policies. For the sake of millions working in the public sector or exploited on low wages, working for gangmasters, working on zero hours contracts the priority has to be bringing down the Tory Government.
I agree: and austerity and the EU are not necessary partners – whatever some wish to argue. Portugal is proving otherwise, for example
Lions
I beg your pardon my feline friend?!!
Good for you if you still have your job. Do you know your employer’s plans when BREXIT actually happens? Maybe you part of the economy will be fine. Others will not.
I can see your point though. But Labour as they are now need to be more heterodox in their approach going forward. I expect great things and do hope that they do not disappoint. It’s their call.
BREXIT can be seen as not just a separate phenomenon to austerity. BREXIT could very well harm the public sector to the point where MORE austerity is justified. Do not under estimate the reckless opportunists in the Tory government.
Liam Fox is not courting American health corporations for nothing.
To me BREXIT is plain stupidity because we are going to be disrupting established and smooth trade flows just as we realise that austerity has deeply harmed the country when it was brought in sharply only 2 years after the 2008 crisis.
You seem to be separating BREXIT and austerity and not acknowledging that the reality is that they we don’t need either.
At all.
We don’t still have a job Pilgrim, we were made redundant last year. As I said this was not Brexit’s fault, (nor the EU’s).
How much more redundant do you think we could be if Brexit goes ahead?
How could Brexit make zero-hours contracts worse? – they can’t hire us for minus hours contracts. For public sector workers and for people suffering the worst of the gigs and gangmaster economy things were terrible enough before the Brexit vote. I’m fed up with hearing people describing Brexit as the greatest example of self harm. Electing a Tory Government is a far worse example of self harm, and the priority is forcing them out of office.
There is the chink of light that in the event of a referendum being won by Remain, it would unleash a level of Tory civil war even more intense than that we have seen so far.
In this environment anything could happen – even a general election. With the EU question now not the cause of internal Labour division, Corbyn would have the opportunity to stress the real reasons for the problems we are faced with – i.e. the starling incompetence and malevolence of the Tories.
Am I a hopeless optimist? One can but hope!
I can hope
I just sense he lacks an6 killer instinct at all