Brexit splits U.K.’s Labour Party
BRINGHTON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s main opposition Labour Party begins its annual conference on Sunday desperately searching for a coherent Brexit plan to stem a potential drubbing in a looming election.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s moment of truth comes with the crisistorn country hurtling toward an October 31 exit from the European Union without a plan for future trade.
Yet the same divisions over Europe that saw Boris Johnson’s right-wing Conservatives lose their working majority are also tearing apart Labour on the left.
The 119-year-old party’s support base consists of cosmopolitan city-dwelling europhiles and traditional working-class communities that rejected Brussels in the 2016 referendum.
Polls show these views have become even more entrenched today — a polarisation that further complicates Corbyn’s bid to find a unifying stance.
The strongly anti-European Brexit Party and the pro-EU Liberal Democrats are eroding Labour’s support on both flanks, according to recent polls.