Brexit: Corbyn Would Win With Remain Stance?

Jeremy Corbyn is facing growing calls to reverse his support for going through with Brexit as Labour toughens its stance against a “hard” or “No Deal” Brexit and Remain activists urge the Labour leader to support a new referendum on Britain’s final departure terms.

Although Corbyn says he would prefer Britain to remain in the EU, he has repeatedly insisted that the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum must be respected and has ruled out joining the Liberal Democrats in backing a second referendum.

“I voted remain because I thought the best option was to remain – I haven’t changed my mind on that,” Corbyn said after Prime Minister Theresa May refused to answer when asked whether she would vote “Remain” in a second referendum, as she did in the first. “(But) there isn’t going to be another referendum so it’s a hypothetical question,” Corbyn said.

Fear of alienating Labour supporters who voted for Brexit has led Corbyn to insist that the 52-48% vote for Brexit in June last year must be implemented, even though that ballot was conducted as a non-binding referendum.

But Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, has already toughened Labour’s position against a “No Deal” Brexit, which would involve leaving the EU without a new series of trade and other agreements, and is now insisting that Parliament should have “the final say on whether to approve the withdrawal agreement and how best to implement it”.

Opinion polls show that more people would now rather stay in the EU than leave and Remain-supporting Labour MPs such as Chuka Umunna argue that the rising public opposition to Brexit would increase markedly if Labour shifted its own position to provide outspoken leadership for anti-Brexit forces.

Corbyn’s personal popularity among Labour backers could go a long way to swaying dedicated Labour voters against Brexit if he now took a firm stance on the issue, in contrast to the lukewarm support he gave the Remain cause during the Brexit referendum.

Activists Urge Change

Remain groups have repeatedly expressed disappointment at Corbyn’s stance, with one activist, a 30-year-old A&E doctor who is raising funds for an anti-Brexit video, insisting that the Brexit decision could be overturned by Parliament if Corbyn took a firm stand. “I believe we can reverse Brexit completely,” said the doctor, who asked to be named only as Jeremy. Twelve of the 14 opinion polls that have been conducted since the referendum gave more support to Remain than Leave, with the most recent giving 58% backing to remain “so Brexit is definitely not ‘the Will of the People’ anymore,” he told Felix Magazine. “If we can build upon that change and increase the pressure on the Government by the means of a heavily supported petition calling for a second referendum, get people emailing their local MPs, and holding further large scale protests, then it is absolutely possible for us to turn this around.”

Jeremy is part of a group fundraising to produce an animated campaign video to gain momentum for the #StopBrexit movement on social media. That follows an election video his team produced that gained over 2 million views on Facebook in the 10 days before the election. The Brexit video will cost £11,000 and will only go ahead if the money is raised by October 24. Donations can be made here.

Political Climate

Theresa May’s party is still divided on Brexit and her slim parliamentary minority could make it vulnerable to the gathering political force against Brexit. “We’ve had Sadiq Khan calling for a second referendum,” Jeremy told Felix Magazine. “Phillip Hammond has spoken out from the Conservative Party, while the Lib Dems remain ardently anti-Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn has just stated that he would now vote Remain, while Theresa May refuses to say, which is surely an indicator. The tide is turning and we need to capture that momentum now with this video and Stop Brexit campaign.”

Angel Gurria, (above), the head of the Western world’s leading economic think tank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has fuelled the momentum of the anti-Brexit forces by releasing a report on the UK economy that concluded that holding a second referendum could allow the UK to escape what it called the serious economic damage that would flow from Brexit. “In case Brexit gets reversed by political decision (change of majority, new referendum, etc), the positive impact on growth would be significant,” it said. The British Treasury swiftly rejected the OECD warning, with a statement from the Prime Minister repeating the Government’s stance that post-Brexit trade deals would be successful. “The OECD are a respected international body but what we should bear in mind is that it’s based on a “no deal” situation, which is not what we are looking for,” her spokesman said. “We are confident we are going to strike a good deal.”

 

by Stewart Vickers

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