Unions back call for Brexit Final Say
Community union representing some 30,000 workers in total calls on Theresa May to ‘do the right thing’ and allow the British public to determine their own future
LONDON: British steelworkers throw their weight behind The Independent’s campaign for a Final Say referendum on Brexit.
The Community union - representing some 30,000 workers in total - calls on Theresa May to “do the right thing” and allow the British public to determine their own future.
In a further signiicant development in the drive for a new referendum, The Independent and the People’s Vote campaign are joining forces for a mass march through central London later this year.
The alliance will see the two organisations mobilise activists and media across the country to capture the growing tide of opinion that a further referendum on Brexit must be held.
Polls show fast increasing support for the idea amid deepening Tory divisions, doubts that May can secure parliamentary backing for her plans and meagre public support for her approach.
Relations between UK and EU negotiators have also descended into a new state of paranoia this week, with Brussels not denying reports that its oficials believe they are being bugged by British spies.
It is against this backdrop that Community general secretary Roy Rickhuss writes exclusively for The Independent, saying: “In June 2016, the British public gave our government a mandate to go and negotiate a withdrawal from the European Union.
Dominic West discusses the People’s Vote March for the Future “Exactly what that looked like was unclear, but Theresa May told us she would go in and negotiate a deal that is in the best interests of British workers and their families.
“It now seems that such a deal is unachievable or may not exist. That is why my trade union, Community, is backing The Independent’s Final Say campaign, to secure a people’s vote on the inal deal.”
Community’s roots are in textile manufacturing and the steel industry pushed to the brink of collapse in recent years as much larger economies such as China distort international markets.
In 2018 the industry has faced new pressure in particular from steel tariffs imposed by Donald Trump’s US administration, which Brexiteers are relying on for a favourable future trade deal.
Community also supports prison and justice workers, logistics, inance, politics and public affairs staff, the charity and freelance sectors and is afiliated to the Labour Party.
Rickhuss highlighted London School of Economics data concluding Brexit was already costing the average UK household more than £404 a year by June 2017.
He argued that the facts of withdrawal were now “profoundly different to those presented in 2016,” branding the promise of £350m a week for the NHS “worthless” and the guarantee that European trade would not be harmed as “at best a mistake, and at worst a deliberate lie.”
The general secretary added: “When Theresa May believes she has got the best outcome she can, then she must come back and allow us to decide if her best is good enough. If that outcome is rejected, then all options should be on the table, including reopening negotiations with Europe and retaining the status quo.
“Community would not shy away from asking our members to vote on important or dificult issues in the workplace; our politicians must do the right thing and give the people a Final Say on their future.”
The People’s Vote launched in April demanding a referendum on the deal agreed with the EU and has a grassroots network of around 1 million people, holding rallies and action days across the country.