PM May driving Britain to cliff-edge Brexit: Corbyn

BRIGHTON, England, Sept 27, (Agencies): A cliff-edge Brexit is at risk of becoming a reality under Prime Minister Theresa May, the leader of Britain’s main opposition party said on Wednesday, adding only Labour could win a good deal with the European Union.

“A cliff-edge Brexit is at risk of becoming a reality,” Jeremy Corbyn told hundreds of party members at the annual Labour conference in the southern English town of Brighton.

Meanwhile, in a former church, 40-odd activists are learning how to become effective frontline troops in the battle to sweep Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn into power.

“The next campaign is already going on,” said 19-year-old Connor Hodgson-Brunniche, a student at York University, who came down especially from northern England to the south coast resort of Brighton, where Labour is hosting its annual conference.

The trainees are taking their task seriously, even though the next general election does not have to be held until 2022, following a June snap poll in which Prime Minister Theresa May’s governing centre-right Conservatives lost their majority but remained the largest party in parliament.

Those on the course are learning how to deliver positive messages, speak effectively in front of the media, make the best use of social media and draw in new recruits.

Following the June vote, which saw left-of-centre Labour take seats off the Conservatives, the campaign is out to “take the momentum that we got during the election ... and expand it to be able to reach even more people,” said Hodgson-Brunniche.

The political-science student joined Labour in 2015, when veteran leftist Corbyn surprisingly swept to power on a wave of newly signed-up supporters.

Around 100 debates, lectures, workshops or musical events, often packed out, are part of the political and cultural festival titled “The World Transformed”, taking part on the Brighton conference fringe.

TWT is organised by Momentum, the political movement born out of the campaign to sweep Corbyn, 68, to the party leadership.

“Momentum have opened up the party so people don’t have to be political animals before they become activists,” said Justine Cooper, 55.

Momentum

May

Initially accused of being a cadre of Trotskyists, Momentum have quickly gained a lot of influence within the Labour Party. They have more than 23,000 members and 150 local branches.

They notably convinced delegates to keep Brexit off the list of topics set for debates and votes on the Brighton conference floor.

“It’s a peaceful revolution,” said Jamie Driscoll, a Momentum training coordinator.

A short distance from the church, in a meeting room, activists discuss politics while others take part in a workshop to come up with rallying slogans or buy red badges sporting leftist messages.

“Our job now is to be working every day to campaign against the Tories... until we win,” via meetings, social media and door-knocking, said Cameron Ball, a TWT spokesman.

Steven Fielding, a professor of political history at Nottingham University, described Momentum as “a very efficient Corbyn fan club”.

Corbyn’s re-election as Labour leader in 2016 — when the vast majority of his MPs lost confidence in his leadership — was in no small part down to Momentum’s enthusiastic campaigning.

Now Corbyn, who can claim to have tripled Labour’s membership to 570,000 in two years, seems secure in his post following the June general election, when his campaign focused on anti-austerity defied predictions of a landslide defeat.

In some opinion polls, Labour are now ahead of the Conservatives.

“The election has changed politics in this country,” Corbyn said in a recent interview with The Guardian newspaper.

Even some on the right are not ruling out the left’s chances of coming to power.

It could come to pass if the government cannot overcome its divisions on Brexit, said former foreign secretary and Conservative ex-leader William Hague.

The Economist magazine considers Corbyn as “Britain’s most likely next prime minister”.

Professor Fielding said it was “more than possible” that Corbyn would end up in power if there was another general election within the next 12 months.

Referendum

Furthermore, Ireland announced it will hold a referendum next year on whether to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion in almost all cases — just a few weeks before Pope Francis visits.

The government is also planning votes to remove Ireland’s anti-blasphemy law and to reduce the time couples must spend apart before divorcing.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has previously said the eighth amendment of the constitution, which makes abortion illegal unless there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, was “too restrictive”.

His government has decided Tuesday that a referendum — which must be agreed by parliament — should take place in May or June 2018, just before the pope visits in August to attend the World Meeting of Families.

Abortion has always been illegal in Ireland but was inserted into the constitution in 1983 following a referendum, in which 67 percent of voters were in favour and 33 percent against.

The eighth amendment recognises the equal right to life of the unborn child and the mother — and a woman convicted of having an illegal termination faces 14 years in prison.

However, women are free to travel abroad for abortions and thousands do so every year, mainly to England.

Opinion polls in recent years have consistently indicated strong support for reform in Ireland, which remains largely Catholic but where scandals have dented the church’s authority.

Thousands of people are expected in Dublin on Saturday for the annual “March for Choice”, declaring: “We are ready for change.”

“We need access to free, safe and legal abortion for all who need or want it. And we need it now,” organisers said.

The Abortion Rights Campaign said it “cautiously” welcomed the announcement.

“It depends on the wording of the referendum,” spokeswoman Linda Kavanagh told AFP, fearing that it could be watered down from broad access to abortion.