Labour’s European Manifesto

Tomorrow, Labour’s NEC will meet to discuss and decide our European Manifesto for the upcoming national elections. As stated in our rulebook, we are required to decide which parts of established policy should form this manifesto, not turn existing policy on its head.

Over a year ago, I ran to be the NEC Youth Representative on a manifesto of giving more democracy and autonomy to our youth wing, supporting socialist policy at a national level and prioritising political education. Although it can seem like all politics has been reduced to a Brexit football match, I won my election without mentioning Brexit in my manifesto and in fact running against a candidate who pledged to support a ‘People’s Vote’ policy.

Brexit is, of course, an important issue — all the more reason why we should be clear about what Labour policy agreed at Conference 2018 committed us to. It did not commit our party to a public vote, nor did it rule it out. It stated that Labour “must support all options remaining on the table” which the PLP have done.

I will support our European manifesto stating the same.

At a time when this country so desperately needs a General Election, and with Westminster in such conditions of turmoil, I am not prepared to say that every option has been exhausted. Nor do I think it would be wise to commit the party to putting Remain on the ballot paper should such a time come when all other avenues to preventing a damaging Brexit have been closed off.

The People’s Vote campaign tends to portray Brexit in black-and-white terms, but there is significantly more complexity to this debate than it can sometimes appear. The lobbying I have received from members across our party has offered no answers or political clarity on what a “remain and reform” or “remain and revolt” agenda for Labour resembles in practical or tactical terms. Many of those supporting a confirmatory vote as our final option do not propose putting Remain on the ballot.

At a time when the dangerous and right-wing Brexit Party is gaining rapid support, and a ‘Remain alliance’ Change UK Party is polling far more disastrously than even its harshest critics expected, it is clear that the electorate’s desire to honour the 2016 referendum result is hardening rather than dissipating. I believe that it is the duty of the left to provide a compelling vision of Britain outside of the EU which will not alienate Leave voters but also give ardent Remainers an optimism for a society where the economic rules of the game will change.

So what should go in the manifesto?

Despite my anticipation that the EU will reject many of Labour’s unashamedly socialist proposals — particularly those that imply taking monopoly ownership of industries and undertaking developments related to state aid and regional investment — I believe that, since MEPs nominally have a voice in Europe, then they should be aggressively pushing the anxieties and concerns of the organised working class at a European level. Labour MEPs do not have the power to reverse Brexit, so I don’t believe making it the number one issue in our manifesto is sensible. However, MEPs can support facilitating a Brexit deal which is, in the words of a motion passed at the Communication Workers’ Union conference on Sunday, “consistent with a democratic socialist transformation of the British economy”.

Our European manifesto should highlight both the progressive work that Labour MEPs have achieved on tax avoidance, reforms to the Posted Worker’s Directive and environmental issues — and push them to go even further. I will be proposing that we support initiatives to tackle precarious work, low pay, underemployment and structural unemployment for categories like younger people and migrants, as well as developing the skills transitions needed for programmes like a Green New Deal.

While we remain members, we should pushed for increased democracy and transparency in the development of legislation in the EU and use this to end the trend towards deregulation and a race to the bottom in terms of wages and public services.

Uniting the Country

Whilst advocating for young people, I will remember that the British election panel study showed that the divide over Brexit wasn’t primarily between old and young; it lined up far more clearly on questions of disadvantage.

18–25 year olds without higher education were, in fact, among the highest Leave voters in the country. It is apparent that young people — especially those on lower incomes — above all need a Labour government to transform their working lives and human prospects.

As a Labour Party that aims to give voice to those struggling in our society, we can’t forget the degree to which the Brexit vote was an expression of profound disillusionment for millions of people, of our people, of people who work for a living but find it increasingly hard to make one.

I support Jeremy Corbyn’s vision to unite Leave and Remain voters on the basis of common interests of higher wages, better public services and irreversibly ending inequality; these are the issues to bring to the forefont in our meeting tomorrow.

The media and political class would love the debate about transformative policies that might tackle society’s injustices to be sidelined altogether. The debate between staying in an unchanged, neoliberal EU or leaving that institution to degrade our country into an racist, austerian tax haven would suit them perfectly.

I will be supporting a European manifesto which rejects this false dichotomy and unites a broad coalition of voters in their support for a socialist Labour Party.