This week could be a big one. Nearly two and half years after the referendum, with billions wasted on ailing Brexit departments, jobs being quietly exported abroad and the Cabinet’s door perpetually revolving, it’s time for the Government to finally come clean about the kind of Brexit it can offer.
It’s crunch time, but the problem for the people of the country is that – if we get a deal at all – it will be a bad one.
May herself has said we know what 95% of this deal looks like. So far, it looks like a mix of the worst parts of soft and hard Brexit: making us a rule taker in some areas and making families and communities poorer. Brexit won’t protect jobs in this country, particularly in manufacturing, which relies heavily on frictionless borders for supply chains, and the service sector which makes up 80 per cent of our economy.
Pressure is now mounting on MPs around the country to vote down the government’s deal. On Tuesday, Best for Britain and the People’s Vote campaign will join together to host a rally at Central Hall in Westminster, calling on MPs to vote against any deal that leaves us worse off than our current terms. The last time anti-Brexit forces assembled in a show of unity, central London ground to a halt in what was the biggest democratic protest since the demonstrations in 2003 against the Iraq war.
People power is also being demonstrated through the polls. The country backs a final say for the people at the rate of two to one, with 65% in favour in our poll of over 8,000 people published at the weekend. Poll after poll has now shown a growth in support for remaining in the EU rather than pursuing Brexit. The latest figures show support for remaining in the EU stands at 54% who want to stay in Europe against 46% who would still back leaving.
Crucially, the figures are overwhelming among Labour’s 2017 voters: 79% support a final say, 68% would choose staying in the EU over the government’s deal and 67% would vote to remain if another vote was held.
The Labour leadership has signalled more than once that the official line of the party is on the side of the many. The Labour Party Conference passed a clear position: the Labour Party will reject any deal that doesn’t pass its six tests, and if happens, and an election doesn’t result, Labour is open to a final say on the deal.
This past weekend has seen this Labour position come under scrutiny. But there is one defining feature of today’s Labour Party, and that is its commitment to listening to its membership. The biggest surge in Labour support in years has come from young people signing up in droves, and the biggest democratic engagement of CLPs ever came at the Labour Conference this year passed over 150 resolutions on Brexit.
Labour is a party that has nailed its colours to the mast of democracy. The beauty of that position is that the way Labour members feel reflects what Labour voters – and now a majority in the rest of the country – want.
The Labour Party, from Jeremy Corbyn to local members need to stick to their guns to get through the coming weeks. If the deal the government presents doesn’t match Labour’s six tests, they should vote against it. They can then go through the motions they want to – and if an election doesn’t happen they should keep following their party policy to the next logical step of a People’s Vote.
The polls in the country must also guide this – and MPs must also have an eye on the state we would be in if we continue with a blindfold Brexit that even the most committed conservatives find unpalatable. In that situation Labour must hold its nerve and put the decision back to the people.
Anything less would be a betrayal of the many for the benefit of the few – and it would be a betrayal the electorate would not forgive lightly.
Eloise Todd is CEO of Best for Britain, a campaign for a second referendum on a Brexit deal
