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| This isn't about Brexit. Backing remain now would wreck Labour | This isn't about Brexit. Backing remain now would wreck Labour |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| The Labour party, as we expected, took a battering in the European elections. I’m not going to analyse the data, there are good pollsters who can do that but in so much as anything is clear, strong remain areas voted for stop Brexit parties, and leave areas voted for Nigel Farage. To quote Theresa May for one last time, nothing has changed. | The Labour party, as we expected, took a battering in the European elections. I’m not going to analyse the data, there are good pollsters who can do that but in so much as anything is clear, strong remain areas voted for stop Brexit parties, and leave areas voted for Nigel Farage. To quote Theresa May for one last time, nothing has changed. |
| Corbyn pressed by senior Labour MPs to back a second referendum | Corbyn pressed by senior Labour MPs to back a second referendum |
| But I have a heartfelt plea to my colleagues. Please do not take what turned out to be a proxy referendum on Britain’s relationship with the EU to try to alter what would be an effective ending of Labour’s historic coalition of working-class, middle-class, city and non-city voters. Our party is built on that coalition. When it frays, we rebuild it. A single issue has wrecked the Tory party before; it is wrecking it now. | But I have a heartfelt plea to my colleagues. Please do not take what turned out to be a proxy referendum on Britain’s relationship with the EU to try to alter what would be an effective ending of Labour’s historic coalition of working-class, middle-class, city and non-city voters. Our party is built on that coalition. When it frays, we rebuild it. A single issue has wrecked the Tory party before; it is wrecking it now. |
| Do not let a single issue wreck the Labour party. Our programme to rebuild a country that is fairer is so much more than about a single dominant issue today that has damaged us in a not hugely important election. | Do not let a single issue wreck the Labour party. Our programme to rebuild a country that is fairer is so much more than about a single dominant issue today that has damaged us in a not hugely important election. |
| Whatever way you add up the votes, and believe me both sides in this polarised debate are frantically saying what happened means they’re right, the idea that the “country has moved towards” remain is clearly wishful thinking rather than reality. | Whatever way you add up the votes, and believe me both sides in this polarised debate are frantically saying what happened means they’re right, the idea that the “country has moved towards” remain is clearly wishful thinking rather than reality. |
| Nigel Farage won by far the largest vote share with a simple message. Britain voted to leave the EU. Britain hasn’t left the EU. Until that is no longer the case, we won’t be able to move on and fix the injustices that have wreaked havoc in communities such as the ones I represent in parliament – problems that were not created by being in the EU and won’t be solved by leaving the EU. | Nigel Farage won by far the largest vote share with a simple message. Britain voted to leave the EU. Britain hasn’t left the EU. Until that is no longer the case, we won’t be able to move on and fix the injustices that have wreaked havoc in communities such as the ones I represent in parliament – problems that were not created by being in the EU and won’t be solved by leaving the EU. |
| Another referendum will not fix the problem, it will merely reinforce it. Further, I’ve seen nothing to suggest the outcome of a referendum would be different. But even if it produced a narrow remain victory, why would that have legitimacy when the first referendum didn’t? It smacks of a political establishment that wants to keep asking the same question until it gets the answer it wants. According to the academics Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin, 58% of those who voted to leave also say that politicians don’t listen to people like them. Surely we want to prove them wrong, not right? | Another referendum will not fix the problem, it will merely reinforce it. Further, I’ve seen nothing to suggest the outcome of a referendum would be different. But even if it produced a narrow remain victory, why would that have legitimacy when the first referendum didn’t? It smacks of a political establishment that wants to keep asking the same question until it gets the answer it wants. According to the academics Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin, 58% of those who voted to leave also say that politicians don’t listen to people like them. Surely we want to prove them wrong, not right? |
| Some of my colleagues argue that a second referendum is the only way out of this impasse, but it’s clear many just see it as a way of blocking Brexit altogether. If that happened, and Labour was instrumental in overturning a democratic mandate, then what do we say to leave voters, and indeed millions of remain voters, who do accept the mandate and want to move on, the next time we ask them to trust us? | |
| In my constituency of Ashfield, we knock on doors pretty much all year round – but in the runup to the local elections, I really stepped up campaigning. Do you know how many people asked me for a second referendum? A grand total of zero. And that was from remain and leave voters. | In my constituency of Ashfield, we knock on doors pretty much all year round – but in the runup to the local elections, I really stepped up campaigning. Do you know how many people asked me for a second referendum? A grand total of zero. And that was from remain and leave voters. |
| It is true that in these elections we lost more remain votes to the Liberal Democrats and Greens than leave votes to the Brexit party. But we have also lost millions of votes to the Brexit party, Ukip and the Tories in previous years. Reversing the trend that has seen the balance of Labour support move from town to city, from voters with less educational qualifications to those with more and, yes, from traditional working class to middle class, needs to be addressed if we are to win general elections again. | It is true that in these elections we lost more remain votes to the Liberal Democrats and Greens than leave votes to the Brexit party. But we have also lost millions of votes to the Brexit party, Ukip and the Tories in previous years. Reversing the trend that has seen the balance of Labour support move from town to city, from voters with less educational qualifications to those with more and, yes, from traditional working class to middle class, needs to be addressed if we are to win general elections again. |
| The 2017 general election saw a reversal of the trend, thanks to a genuine and real change programme that excited all parts of our coalition. But I fear that that has gone into reverse and seeing Labour figures on the TV every day giving the impression that we as a party don’t respect the referendum result has been toxic and needs to end. | The 2017 general election saw a reversal of the trend, thanks to a genuine and real change programme that excited all parts of our coalition. But I fear that that has gone into reverse and seeing Labour figures on the TV every day giving the impression that we as a party don’t respect the referendum result has been toxic and needs to end. |
| Labour has lost millions of voters in areas such as mine since 2005. It is fantastic that Labour has built support in parts of the south and London; that is vital. But we won’t win another general election if we don’t respect a part of our electoral coalition that is also needed. Electorally, most of the marginal seats we need to win are in heavily leave-voting areas. Morally, our party was born to represent the interests of working-class voters. | Labour has lost millions of voters in areas such as mine since 2005. It is fantastic that Labour has built support in parts of the south and London; that is vital. But we won’t win another general election if we don’t respect a part of our electoral coalition that is also needed. Electorally, most of the marginal seats we need to win are in heavily leave-voting areas. Morally, our party was born to represent the interests of working-class voters. |
| We are now in a reverse of what happened in the 1980s and 90s. Then it was the argument that we couldn’t help people in Barnsley and Bradford without winning the marginals, so we needed to change – and when we did, we won. The very opposite change is required now. It’s about who we are as a party and why we were founded. | We are now in a reverse of what happened in the 1980s and 90s. Then it was the argument that we couldn’t help people in Barnsley and Bradford without winning the marginals, so we needed to change – and when we did, we won. The very opposite change is required now. It’s about who we are as a party and why we were founded. |
| This is not just about Brexit. It’s about the future of the Labour party as we know it. There is no mandate for a hard Brexit or to revoke article 50 or for a second referendum. Labour’s historic mission now is to bring the country together and find a compromise to leave the EU in a way that keeps close ties to our neighbours. Let’s not make a difficult outcome far worse by turning it into one that throws away our hope of representing all the people we exist to represent. | This is not just about Brexit. It’s about the future of the Labour party as we know it. There is no mandate for a hard Brexit or to revoke article 50 or for a second referendum. Labour’s historic mission now is to bring the country together and find a compromise to leave the EU in a way that keeps close ties to our neighbours. Let’s not make a difficult outcome far worse by turning it into one that throws away our hope of representing all the people we exist to represent. |
| We need a deal so we can move on and address the real problems the UK faces – and that means electing a Labour government. | We need a deal so we can move on and address the real problems the UK faces – and that means electing a Labour government. |
| • Gloria De Piero is Labour MP for Ashfield | • Gloria De Piero is Labour MP for Ashfield |
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