After years of campaigning and internal pressure, Remain supporting members of the Labour party won a huge victory today with Jeremy Corbyn finally going on record to declare that Labour now demands a confirmatory vote on any deal or no-deal option, and that Labour would campaign to Remain.
Tom Watson, deputy leader of the Labour party said “Our members have been telling us for some time now that they want us to be a Remain party and that they want us to put the new deal to the people,”
“We’re now going to campaign for that and I’m very proud that the shadow cabinet have now listened to their concerns.”
Miriam Mirwitch, chair of Young Labour, welcomed the move, adding: “This vital shift shows that Labour is a party centred around democracy that has listened to what it’s members have wanted for some time: a People’s Vote in which Labour campaigns to Remain.”
The move is indeed a great victory for those within the Labour party that have worked so hard to keep opinion moving and whose work at the last Labour Conference and in Labour branches and CLP’s up and down the country has finally paid off. Groups such as Another Europe is Possible, Remain Labour, LabourSay, Open Labour and Labour for a Public Vote, amongst many others, can rightly be proud of what they have achieved today.
Whilst some might say that there is still some ambiguity in Labours stance, especially concerning a general election and what a future manifesto position might be, it is unarguable that the current position is that Labour backs a public vote on any deal in all circumstances. There is a slight possibility that IF a general election is called, and IF Labour win, that they may decide to try and renegotiate a deal, and IF they succeed, may call a vote on that Labour deal.
But regardless, a vote there will be, and, my friends, looking back to where we were just four months ago, I am happy with that. And, after the next three months of Labour members campaigning for a public vote and arguing the case for Remain – what odds that the Labour leadership can change tack once again and look towards a possible Lexit, without destroying any hopes of a GE win in the process? Slender, I think, and remote.
Today, Labour backs Remain, and we are that much closer to preventing the disaster that Brexit entails. Today, hope is winning.
North Yorkshire for Europe 