On Corbyn and IndyRef2

Now that the dust is settling, I have a few thoughts on what happened in the EU referendum and on what comes next.

First, it is clear that the Corbyn experiment has failed. I enthusiastically supported Jeremy’s bid to become the leader of the Labour Party, but his leadership has been sorely disappointing. His absence from the referendum campaign can only have done damage to the Remain side. His excuse, that he was spending time talking at local meetings (as he claims in the video below), demonstrates that his idea of what constitutes an effective political operation would be more at home in 1916 than in 2016.

Later on in this interview, Jeremy gets into a miniature spat with the person interviewing him after he is asked whether he really wants to be Prime Minister. Jon Snow is the kind of reporter who Jeremy should have no trouble getting on with, but it’s clearly a struggle for him. This is only the latest avoidable squabble which Jeremy has had with the media. Jeremy doesn’t need to cuddle up to the media in the same way previous Labour leaders have done, but at the same time I can’t help but feel that he is incapable of doing anything but actively alienate the media. We need a Labour leader who can actively use the media — we do not need a Labour leader who relies on meetings in community centres to get his message across.

Second, calls for Scottish Independence have resumed louder than ever. The romantic appeal of an independent Scotland within Europe is obvious, but the economic case for an independent Scotland seems to be weaker now than it was in 2014. Access to the EU Single Market is appealing, but it is difficult to get away from the fact that the Scottish economy is significantly more interdependent with the UK’s economy than it is with the EU’s economy. One of the most compelling arguments against the UK leaving the EU was that it would be madness to cut ourselves off from our biggest trading partner — this argument now has a parallel in whether it would be wise for Scotland to cut itself off from its biggest trading partner, which is the rest of the UK. Many of us are committed to the European ideal, and Scottish Independence may be the best way for us to get back into Europe, but it will undoubtedly come at an economic price. We will not be able to replace our trade with the rest of the UK with trade with the rest of the EU overnight.

I am angry about being pulled out of Europe. I am disgusted at the way the Leave campaign lied to the public. Every individual involved in Vote Leave and Leave.eu either actively lied to the public or demonstrated a criminal level of ignorance. What we need now more than ever is for the Labour Party to sort itself out and save us from this mess — however, I am under no illusion that this is a likely outcome. Independence for Scotland could well be the least worst option for us, but it would need a coherent economic plan which does not exist at this point. Given that the European Union we would be rejoining would be missing our biggest trading partner I think that formulating a decent economic plan could, unfortunately, be an impossibility.