Insight
The limits to Labour’s ‘constructive ambiguity’ over Brexit by Simon Tilford 6 July 2017
Labour proposes a “jobs-first” and hard Brexit at the same time. This means the party can’t capitalise on the Tories’ stewardship of the economy. One of the more bewildering things about Britain’s current politics is the spectre of a socially-liberal, internationalist Labour Party apparently siding with the English, nationalist right-wing of the Conservative Party over Brexit. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, says Brexit is a settled matter and refuses to condemn the Conservative’s policy of taking Britain out of the EU’s single market. What is going on? Should people take Labour support for a hard Brexit at face value? Or is the party simply waiting for the political tide to turn before coming out against Brexit? If so, is this strategy going to work? There are three ways of explaining how Labour can back a policy that promises to do such damage to the economic well-being of its voters. The first is that the party is ready to subordinate everything to the concerns of Labour MPs in marginal constituencies in the Midlands and the North of England. Many traditional Labour voters in these areas are rightly angry about stagnant wages, poor housing and struggling public services, and believe that immigration is at least partly to blame. Although a large majority of Labour voters – over two-thirds – backed Remain, the party leadership is calculating that these pro-EU voters have nowhere to go; they will stick with Labour even if Labour panders to anti-immigrant feeling. Labour does face a challenge in its constituencies in the Midlands and North of England. But it is dishonest for Labour MPs to claim they are sticking up for the interests of working class voters by backing Brexit. These regions stand to lose most from Britain leaving the EU as they are the most dependent on trade and investment with the rest of the EU and on transfers from the wealthy sSouth-eEast of England. Labour is calling for an end to austerity, but this is hard to reconcile with its support for leaving the EU’s single market, a move which will hit the UK economy hard, and force the British government (of whatever stripe) to cut spending (or raise taxes) by a lot more than otherwise would have been the case.
CER INSIGHT: The limits to Labour’s ‘constructive ambiguity’ over Brexit 7 July 2017
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