Are Labour rebels really saying UK should leave without a deal?

IF John McDonnell – prone to quote from Communist tracts in his speeches – and Ben Bradshaw – once the subject of vicious personal attacks by left-wing “Momentum thugs” – feel united in their dissatisfaction with Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal, then some might think it shows what a shoddy piece of work it is. Others, however, might say that for such politically-divided MPs to be united on this issue, merely illustrates that Labour politicians are still fighting a political war that most voters have long ago declared to be settled.

For leader Sir Keir Starmer, however, it presents a problem with which he has become all too familiar in recent months: How does he lead an effective Opposition when the two major issues of the day – coronavirus and Brexit – call for actions in the national interest rather than along party political lines?

On Covid-19, Sir Keir has tried to play a straight bat, supporting the Government on the key messages in the interests of keeping the public onside, while calling out what he sees as shortcomings in the detail of how the Prime Minister has handled the crisis.

And, on the trade deal with the EU, he was attempting to do the same thing, declaring that even this “thin deal,” as he puts it, is better than no deal and therefore deserves backing.

The intervention of former Shadow Chancellor Mr McDonnell and ex-health minister Mr Bradshaw, the MP for Exeter, in signing a statement calling on all opposition parties not to support the EU deal when it goes through Parliament today probably won’t make a lot of difference. The deal is expected to pass comfortably.

But it raises an interesting question about where MPs like Mr Bradshaw, a passionate pro-European who has used every opportunity since the referendum in 2016 to challenge the wisdom of leaving the EU, believe their future lies.

Is he, and equally unhappy colleagues on the opposite wing of the Labour party, suggesting that voters have an appetite for further talks with the EU to get what would amount to, in their eyes, a better deal? Or is this just a bit of political posturing – perfectly valid to make a point – but meaningless in any real context when it comes to Britain’s trading relationship with Europe?

We suspect the latter. The letter signed by Mr Bradshaw, Mr McDonnell and others from both the left and the right of the Labour Party says that it is the duty of the opposition to provide proper parliamentary scrutiny and to set out an alternative, adding: “That task gets harder if opposition parties fall into the trap of rallying around this rotten deal.” That’s true, up to a point, on policy issues which opposition parties have a snowball in hell’s chance of altering. Blocking the only trade deal with the EU that is on the table does not fall into that category.

Do the Labour rebels want Britain to leave the EU without a deal, which would be the effect of them causing the Government to lose today’s vote? If they do, they should say so, loud and clear. If not, by all means abstain to keep their consciences clear, but be honest that this is gesture politics, nothing more.