Brexit Is Not Irreversible
Veteran MP Ken Clarke explains why Brexit is such a terrible idea and why it makes no sense to regard the EU referendum decision as irreversible.
Not least because the Leavers would have paid absolutely no attention to the outcome had the result gone the other way.
The fact is that the referendum did not make any of the tough decisions about the UK's future trading relations with Europe or the UK's continued membership of the Single Market and Customs Union.
Labour and Brexit (28/11/17)
The Guardian supported the Labour Party at the last general election, presumably through gritted teeth at the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn becoming UK prime minister.
But the newspaper has finally woken up to the fact that the Labour leader is a terrible 'dud' when it comes to Brexit with his track record of open hostility towards the European Union and support for a referendum result that failed to settle any of the details, as far as the UK's future trading relationship with the EU is concerned.
The latest Guardian editorial suggests that Labour's approach to Brexit is no longer tenable, so who knows maybe the message is beginning to sink in that Corbyn and his fellow ideologues need to mend their ways.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/26/the-guardian-view-on-labour-and-brexit-fight-for-workers-rights
The Guardian view on Labour and Brexit: fight for workers’ rights
British politics is polarised on nearly every axis, so it is strange how little conflict there is between Labour and the Conservatives on the biggest issue: the terms of departure from the EU. Jeremy Corbyn’s challenges to Theresa May over Brexit negotiations at prime minister’s questions last week felt remarkable because he so rarely opens battle on that front. Labour has not obstructed Tory legislation enabling the very hardest of Brexits. The frontbench say they would pursue a different model, putting “jobs first”. But whips have instructed Labour MPs to sit on their hands as the Tory agenda is enacted.
Mr Corbyn’s views in the area are vague, except to insist that for democracy’s sake, the referendum verdict must be honoured. That is a sensible starting point for the leader of a national party, especially one that represents many areas that voted leave. But ending EU membership leaves a spectrum of options, notably in the question of the single market and customs union. The Tories are dedicated to rupture from both; Labour equivocates.
