There is a possibility that the UK will not participate in the European elections.
Both the Conservatives and Labour don’t want us to be in those elections, and they both want to achieve a version of Brexit. That’s why the government and opposition have been holding frantic meetings to try and agree a Brexit compromise.
As reported by The Guardian today:
‘Labour is prepared to sign up to a Brexit deal with the government without the promise of a referendum attached if cross-party talks make significant progress in the coming days, one of the party’s negotiators has said.’I have been writing for some time that both the government and Labour’s front bench would prefer to ‘do a Brexit’ than to do the European elections or have another referendum.
Of course, that’s not want most Labour members want, or what many Labour MPs want.
Almost 90 MPs and MEPs have written to Labour’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, urging him to ensure that a confirmatory vote is part of the package Labour offers to voters.
But it’s clear that isn’t what Jeremy Corbyn wants. Last week a row broke out about the text of a Labour campaign leaflet for the European elections that made no mention of another referendum.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour’s shadow business secretary, has been attending her party's negotiations with the government alongside the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, and the shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer.
I am concerned that Ms Long-Bailey is not following what the Labour conference overwhelmingly agreed last year.
She told Sky News this morning that:
“Our party policy has always been that firstly we want to get a Brexit deal that puts our economy and living standards first and protects our environmental protections, workplace protections, health and safety standards.
“We want a customs union arrangement in order to keep our borders open, so that our manufacturing industry isn’t detrimentally affected, and we keep the movement of goods flowing as freely as possible. And we want a strong single market relationship.”
She added:
“If we don’t get a deal that satisfies those objectives – if it’s a damaging deal, a damaging Tory Brexit deal, or there’s a risk of us moving towards a no deal – in that circumstance, we’ve said that all options should be on the table, and that includes campaigning for a public vote.”
That’s not what was agreed at Labour’s conference, where the composite motion that was passed clearly stated that:
- Conference believes we need a relationship with the EU that guarantees full participation in the Single Market.
- If we cannot get a general election Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote.
- If the Government is confident in negotiating a deal that working people, our economy and communities will benefit from they should not be afraid to put that deal to the public.
The “customs union arrangement” outlined by Ms Long-Bailey falls far short of ‘full participation in the Single Market’ as stipulated by the conference motion.
Furthermore, Labour’s conference agreed that Labour should push for a new ‘public vote’ on Brexit if it didn’t manage to force an early general election.
The goal posts now appear to have been unilaterally changed by Labour's front bench to say that Labour will ONLY have ‘the option’ of campaigning for a public vote if Labour fails to get the version of Brexit it wants.
But the Labour conference motion was clear that if the government offers a deal that would benefit ‘working people, our economy and communities’ (i.e. Labour’s preferred Brexit) then that deal should be put to the public.
I anticipate the possibility now that Labour will agree a compromise Brexit deal with the government, that will not be subject to a public vote, and will be presented to Parliament in the coming days to enable us to leave the EU without participating in the European elections.
I just add this qualification to my prediction: I have got previous predictions wrong.
I predicted that Remain would win the referendum, and that Hillary Clinton would win the US presidential election.
So, I could be wrong again. But this time, I so much want to be wrong.
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As @Jon_Danzig asserts in his blog today, "Both the government and Labour’s front bench would prefer to ‘do a #Brexit’ than to do the #EuroElections or have another referendum." Click to read. https://t.co/nICRu30LWH— Reasons2Remain #FBPE (@Reasons2Remain) 28 April 2019
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