Labour aren’t even trying to shift their Brexit hangover
IT’S back. It was good to get a Brexmas, sorry I mean Christmas, break but now the political headache that needs an asprin the size of a bowling ball to fix it is thumping away again.
While Theresa May spent the holiday period engaged in begging phonecalls to moderate Tory Brexiteers, Jeremy Corbyn went out his way to prove that he is the man who cannot save Britain.
In full Euro-sceptic flourish, the Labour leader said he would gladly lead the party into a general election on a pro-Brexit manifesto.
He claims to fear Single Market rules would interfere with his plans to give state aid to British industry, which is frankly, well, bollocks.
Tell that to German regional banks and the Dutch state-run railways who make a profit running routes in the UK.
Like the uncle who steadfastly puts the milk in the cup before the tea and refuses to drink it if his nieces pour a cuppa the other way round, Corbyn’s true self is never going to change. He was against the idea of a united Europe in the 1970s – why would he change when times change?
This is much to the dismay of Labour members, more than 70 per cent of whom want the party to campaign for a second referendum, for which read Remain in the EU.
If Corbyn thinks these pro-EU voters will give him a free pass at the next election, he’s deluded.
So, too, is Richard Leonard and the rest of the leadership of the Scottish Labour party if they truly think calls for a second referendum are some kind of centrist front against Corbyn.
Instead of carving out distinctive ground, preparing the way for the UK party to adopt a Remain stance, the Scottish leadership is slavishly loyal to the “milk first, tea next” Brexit of the great uncle.
Scottish Labour can’t out-Nat the Nats – they’ve been eclipsed on that. But it will be a historic shame on the Scottish Labour party if they can’t be more internationalist than the SNP.