Plaid MP urges Labour not to force another national vote
PLAID Cymru has urged Labour not to push for a new general election but to join it in a bid to ensure the UK remains a full member of the European Union’s Single Market.
Newly re-elected Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards said the Conservatives were heading towards a “kamikaze Brexit” but he hoped that cross-party collaboration could minimise the impact on jobs and wages in Wales.
Mr Edwards is alarmed by positive Labour comments in support of another election. Jeremy Corbyn has said his party is “ready to fight another election” and this might be a “good thing”.
In last week’s election Labour won 28 of Wales’ seats (up three) while Plaid won four (up one).
Urging Mr Corbyn’s party to put its energy into stopping a hard Brexit, Mr Edwards warned of the consequences of pushing the country to the polls.
He said: “The Prime Minister got punished in this election and a large reason for that would be because she had sneakily manoeuvred an election. People don’t like being forced to the booths unless there is a necessity for it.
“There would be huge dangers for Labour if they now decided that their whole political purpose in this new Parliament would be to force another election as soon as possible.
“I think that would be very damaging as well in the middle of the Brexit negotiations because the European Union isn’t going to mess about with us.
“This is not an amicable discussion. They are going to be protecting their interests. They are not going to be trying to protect ours...
“The British establishment really need to grasp this very simple reality before they pursue their negotiations.”
Calling for cross-party co-operation to stay in the Single Market, he said: “There is an opportunity now across the House of Commons for people across the political divide to work together to force the British Government to minimise the economic damage of Brexit and concentrate on jobs and wages, and that would mean staying within the Single Market...
“The economic, rational position we should be taking now is that we stay within the Single Market. I think we’d get a majority position across the House of Commons in favour of that and that should be the main focus of the Labour Party leadership – not cynically trying to manoeuvre to force an election.”
Mr Edwards pointed to the example of Norway as a country which is not part of the EU but has access to the Single Market.
He said: “That’s obviously something that we’ve always advocated ever since the referendum as a means of accepting the referendum result but then minimising the economic damage for Wales.”
Mr Corbyn reiterated yesterday that Britain would be leaving the EU. When asked about membership of the Single Market, he said: “The Single Market is a requirement of EU membership and since we won’t be EU members there will have to be an arrangement made.”
Mr Edwards said: “Losing our membership of the Single Market would be disastrous and the political debate now really needs to be razorsharp on the difference between access to the Single Market and membership of the Single Market.
“They are completely different things... There’s a world of difference.
“If we told the European Union that we want to maintain membership of the Single Market, that would take the toxicity completely out of these negotiations with the European Union.”
Stressing the importance of staying in both the Single Market and the Customs Union, he said: “Both of them are vital for the Welsh economy...
“Our overriding concern at all times, whatever decisions we make in politics, has to be people’s livelihoods, their jobs and their wages and their standard of living.”
He added: “A Tory Party intent on a kamikaze Brexit and a Labour Party cynically manoeuvring towards a general election would be a huge letdown to the people that we are elected to serve...
“We are in a state of complete political crisis and we’ve had an election, people have elected their representatives with the task of getting us through the next period, and they are not going to look very kindly on people who act in a cynical manner.”
Re-elected Swansea West Labour MP Geraint Davies said: “Obviously, there needs to be a focus on getting the best Brexit deal and remaining engaged in the Single Market to protect all Welsh