Brexit: Corbyn Just Changed the Whole Brexit Discussion

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party has created a clear divide in the Brexit debate by announcing it will support full participation in the single market and customs union during a lengthy “transitional period” of two-four years and is even open to remaining permanently in a customs union and “a new single market relationship”.

On the eve of the floundering third round of talks between the UK and EU, the cat has certainly been put amongst the pigeons. After more than a year of Jeremy Corbyn echoing the main thrusts of the Conservatives’ position on Brexit the new Labour position is suddenly a long way from Theresa May and David Davis’s idea of a hard Brexit.

Keir Starmer, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, outlined the new stance in the Observer and Corbyn’s office confirmed that it was the official Labour position despite the leader having previously said that last year’s 52-48% referendum vote for leaving the EU meant the UK should leave both the customs union and the single market.

While Starmer’s spoke only about the need to reduce the economic disruption of Brexit rather advocating for cancelling Brexit, activists on both sides of the Brexit divide saw the Labour shift as a potential first sign of Labour abandoning Corbyn’s policy of accepting the 2016 referendum as the final word on the subject.

UKIP called the policy shift a massive betrayal of Labour supporters who voted for Brexit, while the former Tory MP Matthew Parris, who opposes Brexit, told the BBC that Starmer’s announcement was so dramatic that he is considering voting Labour for the first time in his life.

“When I read this story, though I won’t vote for Labour while Jeremy Corbyn is leader, I did begin to think about the possibility of voting for a party that is brave enough to take this stand.”

David Owen, a founder of the Social Democratic Party, said he too may consider joining Labour because of its new stance.

Labour has not joined the Liberal Democratrs and Greens in calling for a second referendum on Brexit but its shift has raised hopes among opponents of Brexit because the sort of transition period that Starmer is proposing could provide time for a new general election and change of heart on Brexit before the UK actually left the single market. Theresa May’s minority Government might not serve a full term but even if it does survive for five years a four-year transition period beyond the formal Brexit date of March 2019 would stretch well past the general election scheduled for 2022.

Starmer wrote that “in order to avoid a cliff edge for our economy there will need to be a time-limited transitional period between our exit from the EU and the new lasting relationship we build with our European partners. This is a view shared widely by businesses and trade unions, who recognise the huge damage that an abrupt separation from the EU would cause to our economy.”

“We will always put jobs and the economy first. That means remaining in a form of customs union with the EU is a possible end destination for Labour, but that must be subject to negotiations.”

The timing of Labour’s policy shift, on the eve of the next round of EU talks, will increase the pressure on the Tories to get more specific on exactly what sort of deal they are seeking.

Starmer claimed that “the Prime Minister’s ideological obsession with leaving the customs union and the single market during a transitional period means the options to deliver a good deal for Britain are diminishing fast.”

Conservative MPs who oppose a hard Brexit said Labour’s new stance could provide the final leverage needed to force Theresa May to abandon a hard Brexit. Former Tory minister Anna Soubry said Labour’s rethink was part of a general political shift in recent weeks away from a hard and sharp Brexit. “Hard Brexit has gone, thank God,” she said. “The debate has shifted to the arguments we have been making for some considerable time.”

 

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