Our single duty is to save jobs
THE Labour Party, above all others, have a responsibility to fight for the jobs and protections that the European Union provide.
That’s why I helped to form a campaign group, Scottish Labour for the Single Market, and it’s why I spoke out at our party conference last weekend.
I’ve listened hard to economic experts and trade union leaders and I’m utterly convinced that we must fight to stay in the European single market, and in so doing, limit the damage that Brexit will cause.
The single market does three things: it protects jobs, including up to 80,000 in Scotland; it provides economic growth that will allow us to stop SNP and Tory austerity; and it defends workers’ rights, including parental leave and the right to join a trade union.
There is, quite simply, absolutely no left-wing case for leaving the single market – and it is absurd to suggest otherwise.
By remaining in the single market, we can deliver everything in Labour’s 2017 manifesto that Jeremy Corbyn and I were proud to stand behind.
The Labour Party also have a duty to end the mistruths about EU migrants’ rights and promote the benefits of immigration.
That’s why Jeremy’s clumsy comments at the weekend that Labour must prevent “employers being able to import cheap agency labour, to undercut existing pay and conditions” have upset so many party members.
Yesterday’s Daily Record editorial summed it up: the Labour Party cannot sit idly by when so many livelihoods are now at stake.