I have no plans for the UK to rejoin the EU, Phillips insists
LABOUR LEADERSHIP contender Jess Phillips has insisted she has no plans for the UK to rejoin the European Union after Brexit and is not an “uber Remainer”.
But the Birmingham Yardley MP told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday that it was not an “honest position” to close off future options or alliances.
She is competing against fellow backbench MP Lisa Nandy as well as Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey to make it into the second round of the Labour leadership contest.
Ms Phillips said: “I don’t think this is a conversation that’s even up for debate at the moment. There’s no plan to have some sort of campaign to rejoin the European Union.
“But any Prime Minister who wouldn’t look at the merits of every single alliance that our country could have for our safety, security, peace, and economic viability with a reasoned head on, anyone who closes off any option in the future, I just believe that that’s an honest position.”
She said she did not hope that Brexit fails or causes a “calamity” in the country, but only that it would not cost people their jobs.
Ms Phillips added: “This isn’t about me hoping that this fails, I don’t hope that Boris Johnson causes calamity in the country. I hope that the people in my constituency, and across the country, don’t lose their jobs.”
She said she was worried about how the Labour Party conference vote to abolish private schools had made it seem to parents who choose to use them that the party thought they were “baddies”.
She said that private schools should be treated like businesses not charities and taxed “accordingly”.
Ms Phillips added: “I worry about some of the messaging and how that hit home because I have a friend who has a daughter with autism who is in a state-funded place at a private school and what she heard when we said that was ‘you’re a baddie and you shouldn’t be doing that’.
“Every parent’s responsibility is to their own child, a government’s responsibility is to every child. I think that private schools should be treated like businesses not like charities, they should be taxed accordingly.”
The Aslef trade union’s general secretary, Mick Whelan, said representatives would meet with the contenders before deciding which candidate to support.
I hope that the people in my constituency don’t lose their jobs. Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips.