EU has become a neo-liberal haven

SIX months after the UK voted to leave the EU we now have the outline of a plan for how the Tory Government wishes to pull out of the European Union.

In her Lancaster House speech Theresa May took the opportunity to highlight how British capitalism, rather than its workers, will benefit when our exit is completed. Indeed, Ms May warned if she doesn’t get the deal she wants, she will cut UK corporation tax, which will undoubtedly please her big business friends but, as Jeremy Corbyn insisted, would risk turning Britain into a bargain-basement tax haven, which would threaten British jobs, services and living standards.

My party, the Communist Party of Britain, has long opposed the neo-liberal haven the European Union has become. We believe it’s in the real national interest that Britain pulls out of the “outdated trading bloc” consisting of the single market, European Free Trade Area, European Economic Area and customs union. We fully appreciate the UK will continue to trade with Europe and the rest of the world and we can achieve this outside of the EU.

The UK labour movement must be campaigning to ensure the interests of workers can be satisfied with regulation of capital, people, goods and services. Brexit can be an opportunity to ensure trade union and equal rights are strengthened, while ending the super-exploitation of EU migrant workers. The UK must guarantee the permanent residence for EU citizens, and the discriminatory immigration restrictions on non-EU citizens introduced by Ms May when she was home secretary should be reversed.

Those who oppose austerity, public services privatisation and discrimination against workers must now develop a broad-based strategy to oppose any post-Brexit neoliberal package and to mobilise for the election of a left-led government. On leaving the EU we can use the money we currently send to Europe so it is reinvested in our public services and on building local authority housing; the UK could also abolish the EU flat-rate VAT.

Now is the time for workers to demand a manifesto on how our exit from the EU can work in the interests of the real wealth generators in this country.

Ms May has outlined a plan to leave the EU, negotiations will soon begin on the detail and the workers’ voice must be heard. Britain as part of Europe but no longer a member of the EU can develop a stronger economy while building a more equal and fair society for all.

Ramon Corria Secretary, Cardiff Branch Communist Party of Britain