As a member of the AEIP National Committee, I have been campaigning to reverse Brexit. The personal politics that led me to stand for their NC is based on both an abstract commitment to what the EU could be and a detailed observation of the economic and social advantages of common citizenship, together with the economic advantages to the nation of belong to the European Union. The absence of the EU’s freedom of movement to work and the common citizenship rights do not affect the rich.
Opinion polls are steadily showing a majority to rejoin the European Union but the two major parties in the House of Commons are both triangulating with a dying electorate and rejecting the aspirations of its replacement. The younger voters that replace them see the reciprocal freedom of movement as a benefit.
At my Labour Party’s general committee, I successfully moved a motion for Labour’s Conference calling on the UK to rejoin the single marker and customs union, together with Erasmus and Horizon. Horizon has just been agreed by the government in another series of its small steps back towards the Union. The motion will be submitted to the Labour Conference but will need to survive the priorities ballot and then the composite process.
I believe that Momentum’s model motion, “Breaking from the Brexit Disaster”, has also been submitted by at least one CLP. I have also posted the words of their motion below. It is probably too late get more CLPs to submit these motion as the deadline is 21st September and notice of a meeting and of business. to be conducted needs to be given. A more effective way of supporting the motion and policy is to argue to include these motions in the priority ballot which takes place at conference.
The following is the speech I made, or something very similar to the speech I made. I was very constrained by time; if I’d had more I’d have made more of the human arguments around the racism of the hostile environment and in favour of freedom of movement.
This motion is quite clear, and maybe public opinion has moved on, and we could ask for more but,
Brexit was a con, perpetrated by liars and will go down in history as an act of national self-harm and folly.
Economically, the Tory ‘Hard Brexit’ has led to reduced…
