1. They are democrats, so they respected the result of the first referendum. However, they also recognised that Leave only won by a small margin. So they thought a compromise soft Brexit would be best, and would help bring people on both sides together.
2. There was/is little reason to assume that Leave wouldn’t win again, in a second referendum. Also, another campaign would be extremely divisive, even more so that the the first.
3. They knew there was/is no majority for a second referendum in parliament, so given this and given that Leave would probably win again, enthusiastically backing another referendum would be completely pointless, achieving nothing bar angering/radicalizing lots of people, potentially making a no deal exit more likely, and alienating Labour-supporting Leavers. Labour did unexpectedly well in the 2017 general election partly because they took in millions of these left-wing Leave voters, thanks to a manifesto that pledged to respect the referendum. A full second referendum/Remain position will kiss goodbye to these voters. Liberal hardcore Remainers are unlikely to ever vote for a socialist Labour Party, whatever their Brexit position, so it’s important to keep the Lexiteers on side.
Given all the above, they have remained neutral/open-minded to all possibilities, whilst allowing the Tories to implode, making a general election more likely - only a Labour government will address the anger that pushed many right-wingers into voting Leave.
Also, Labour did back options in Parliament to avoid a no deal, including a customs union, and a second referendum, several times. (Whilst Lib Dems and Greens opposed/abstained from the former - thus making no deal more likely). They may have already lost the the Lexit vote because of this, (and because their new position is for a referendum on any deal), but to pretend their were any good options for Labour in this Brexit fiasco is disingenuous.
(work in progress)
No comments:
Post a Comment