LABOUR’S BETRAYAL WILL TEAR MY PARTY APART
AT THE last General Election, Labour’s stance on Brexit could not have been more clear. ‘Labour accepts the referendum result,’ our manifesto stated in unambiguous terms. Much attention has rightly been focused on the Conservative Government’s poor handling of the consequent negotiations. But the capitulation of Labour MPs who have reneged on their Brexit- supporting manifesto deserves equal condemnation.
They were elected on the promise that they would see Brexit through. Yet, first, party leaders took the shameful step towards endorsing a second referendum and then, last night, Labour MPs overwhelmingly voted against the Prime Minister’s deal – in the full knowledge that it could spell the end of Brexit.
Their actions confirmed Labour MPs would rather cosy up to metropolitan liberal elites and the ‘we know better’ academics.
Without a hint of shame, they betrayed the 5 million Labour voters who backed Leave. The fact is that more than 60 per cent of all Labour constituencies had majorities for Brexit – most of them in the party’s traditional heartlands of the North and the Midlands.
Even in my Kentish hometown of Ashford, where I serve on the borough council, 59.4 per cent of people voted Leave. A century ago, Labour made an effort to represent the working-class. But now, the story couldn’t be more different.
The three groups most likely to back Brexit were those in social housing, those with no formal education and those earning below £1,200 a month, the National Centre for Social Research has said. And yet, an overwhelming majority of Labour Party members support holding a second referendum and wish to campaign for remain. And when a general election is next called, this could be the cause of Labour’s undoing.
Not only could the party’s support haemorrhage in places such as Stoke, where 69 per cent of the population voted Leave, and Hull (67 per cent) but it could also deny the party the chance of winning scores of key Tory marginals.
For their Leave-supporting constituents, the message will be clear: Labour is the party of a second referendum, Labour is the party of Remain, and Labour is the party of free movement of people. As a result, we will continue to secure votes in places such as Holborn and St Pancras, but we will be rejected by millions in small English towns up and down the country.
How can a party that claims to be principled perform a U-turn of this magnitude without fear or consequence?
Labour’s pitch to voters in 2017 was a progressive, Brexit manifesto. But when the next general election comes, those millions of voters who believed in Labour will have nowhere to go. Betrayed by the party they trusted, they will probably stay at home.
Labour MPs will lose their seats and Labour candidates will fail to take Tory marginal seats. I fear Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership will be over and Labour will be in opposition for years to come. All of this, just to stay in the stagnant project that is the EU.