(not satire – it’s Labour!)
For some strange reason being anti-EU is seen as right-wing.
Personally I would vote for the UK to stay in the EU, but some of the most left-wing people I know – and I know a few – believe the UK should leave the EU.
We should never forget that it was a Tory government which signed the accession agreement for the UK to join the EEC, and it was Tory Prime Ministers who signed the Single European Act and Maastricht.
And in 1975 it was a Labour government which held a referendum on EU membership.
If Ed Miliband and Labour were brave enough they would offer a no-conditions promise to the electorate that if they win the next election they will hold an in-out referendum on EU membership.
And if they did that, they would walk the next election.
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Please feel free to comment. And share. Thanks:
Pride's Purge 
Reblogged this on stewilko's Blog and commented:
Totally agree
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Pingback: If Labour did this one thing they would walk the next election | Alternative News Network
Totally agree too. I’m one of them.
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Tom – Absolutely ****ing spot on!
I’m not sure Labour would completely walk the next election (for various reasons – Scotland, UKIP momentum, etc.) but I would put a confident bet on it.
My own opinion is that staying or leaving won’t make as much difference as the various politicians would have us believe.
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Reblogged this on sdbast.
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Reblogged this on jaynelinney and commented:
I personally share tom’s thinking on the EU…. but agree – any genuine movement to make democracy real by offering a free vote has to be a winner ?
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Speaking as one who is slightly to the left (of Trotsky) I have always been broadly Pro-European.
Europe has been at the forefront of many of the campaigns which I hold dear and underwrites many of the protections that I regard as vital to a fair society (health and safety, food and environmental standards, working time directives, in short the ‘needless red tape’ that many of the Tory millionaires would like to see ‘repatriated’).
But the behaviour of the Commission (particularly with regard to TTIP) in recent years has caused me to lose faith, and I now find myself very close to believing that the UK’s interests might be better served if we left.
What’s more, we may be the first, but we would be the first of many…
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Been saying this for ages. It’s just sheer arrogance to say no,. People want it, offer it.
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lets face it the main benefactors of european trade and industry etc, live within a few 100 miles of the rhine…and in or out of the EU little will change for them….so what will happen is countries of the UK furthest away from london and the se will vote to stay in the EU..european trade has been this way for centuries…
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p s typo, “is countries and regions of the UK furthest away….”
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I’m probably not quite to the left of Trotsky, but I’m thereabouts! I’m also broadly pro-European, but the UK could have adopted all of those protections you hold dear (and I would add human rights to the list) irrespective of whether we were within the EU or not. Our fate primarily depends on the behaviour of our own government, and blaming the EU is just an easy excuse.
I think overall the EU experiment has not been a success, but it was one truly worth trying. One could argue that with fundamental revision it may yet be, but that revision isn’t looking likely.
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You’re right that being against EU membership is primarily seen as rightwing when there has been a long history (within the Labour Party as well) of Leftwing opposition to membership.
Unlike the Right, who hark back to the days of a powerful Britain standing alone answerable itself (in reality it’s own national ruling classes – not the people) and of a homogeneous mono-culture untainted by immigration (it’s also contestable whether this has ever been the case either and whether this would be preferable) the left has always identified the pro-capitalist project at the heart of the European Union. In reality the EU expands the role of the state within the capitalist system beyond national borders. It’s role, as a pseudo state is to facilitate the accumulation of capital, to manage the long term interests of capitalism against the short term interests of individual capitalists and to work to gain the consent of the working classes (all the social stuff that part of the British trade union movement bought into).
This is nothing to do with opposition to immigration, Human Rights (the ECHR is part of the Council of Europe and not the European Union – two separate entities) or bananas having to be compliant with Eu directives. It is though to do with national self-determination and anti-capitalism.
Too be honest, the Green Party, although pro-EU have a fairly good analysis of the problems with the union. I differ with them on the solution – I favour withdrawal, they favour reform. I can’t see how you can reform an institution to the degree that you seek to remove it’s founding aim, but there you go. I did vote Green in the EU elections as No2EU were not standing in my area and the Greens were the most progressive option available.
Labour should offer a referendum and by not doing so appear to be denying the British people a choice on what they think is one of the most important issues (I would argue EU membership is far from top of the list of problems Britain faces).
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Reblogged this on alittleecon and commented:
Tend to agree with this.
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Absolutely right. They would storm it. It is sad that people would abandon principles in order to have an EU referendum but there you are. The offer should be in or out rather than Cameron’s totally false and unachievable “following a renegotiation” – that ain’t gonna happen but unless labour do as you suggest the nasties will get in again. Also why not do a deal with SNP guaranteeing them cooperation in Scots parliament. We’d have a landslide victory on our hands.
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Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating.
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“Also why not do a deal with SNP guaranteeing them cooperation in Scots parliament.”
If that included unilateral nuclear disarmament, would you agree?
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My mother voted to join the Common Market and can’t believe that the EU has become such a large dictatorship instead. We are told what to eat, what to put into food, what we can wear, what we can use if working on anything, etc. etc.
A real promise (can they do that and not renege on it?), to the people of the UK that a very early vote for an In/Out referendum would actually get more votes for the party.
I would rather see the money that we give to the EU spent on proper social housing with lower rents for the thousands who need them. Everywhere I look there is work going on around the UK building homes, but these are all for sale. Sooner or later they are going to run out of people to buy the houses so what will happen then?
Building new homes to rent, repairing properties that need upgrading, knocking down properties that are beyond repair or are already starting to fall down – this is what is needed. The economy would rise, people would be able to work for better wages and others would be able to have proper apprenticeships. Building homes doesn’t just mean building them – there are the materials needed to build them (more jobs), people to build them (more jobs), people to train to become proper plumbers, roofers, electricians…
The local economy gets a huge boost therefore creating more jobs and so on and so on.
We can’t do it whilst we have greedy corporate barstewards in the government, so we have to vote for Labour and hope to God that they will listen to the people.
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Reblogged this on Jay's Journal and commented:
The EU isn’t working…
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A good analysis. I too am old enough to have voted in the original referendum. I voted against, not because of xenophobia, but because of the absence of democracy at the heart of the “project”, and the pro-capitalist, corporatist, and federalism at the heart of the EU. We were never asked about the large part of this.
At the time, I shared a flat with the daughter of a German Jewish refugee, who had done very well in industry. She voted “yes” confident that her father would agree with the capitalism embedded in the Treaty. In fact, he voted “no”, and explained simply – and I don’t necessarily agree with this – that all he saw were the Germans running Europe in 50 years. In some ways he was right, as the Merkel is enforcing austerity throughout the \Eurozone (not going too well though, is it?).
First of all there is a crying need for a massive public education campaign, which could take years, so the people can make informed choices. They should at least know the structure of the European Parliament, the role of the Commissioners, the difference between the EU and the Council of Europe.
Finally, I agree that the Labour Party need to articulate their recognition that we need a debate, and a massive dose of democracy.
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The heart of the Tory party, the minority of people who own large tracts of land, often inherited, get buckets of free money from the EU under the Common Agriculture Policy. For this reason alone I suspect that the Tories will not withdraw from the EU. The argument at the fringes about immigration, apart from being forced on them by UKIP, is a good way to distract the electorate from the shit mess they are making of running the country.
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If you are thinking of voting for EU withdrawal but you also cherish our environment our countryside and our wildlife, be careful what you wish for.
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independent.co.uk/voices/comment/if-you-love-wildlife-think-twice-before-contemplating-voting-to-leave-the-eu-9821828.html
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What began as a common market for trade has morphed incrementally into a huge bureaucracy. There are so many rules and regulations that no single human being could examine a fraction of them. What has happened, was planned at the beginning, but the people were kept ignorant because, after fighting for their sovereignty in the 2nd World War, being merged with Europe would not have been acceptable to them..It had to be achieved by stealth. This was not a democratic process. Don`t expect democracy any time soon. We are ruled from Brussels.
On November 1st the tie to Europe is going to be even stronger.
See http://www.callingengland.net/p/never-you-tell-em-lie.html
Politicians in the Old Labour Party worked their way up through the Unions and had their roots in working class movements. New Labour are part of the elite. Party politics has become a charade. I do not know what is going to happen at the next general election but it is going to require careful voting strategies because it looks like there is going to be another coalition with the Tories, but it won`t be with the LibDems. There`ll be a massive swing to the right, as if it has not swung far enough already.
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Agree. Just have to point out – and this in no way a criticism – everyone now has been led to believe there was an “In/Out” vote to JOIN the Common Market in the seventies. Not the case. We had already been signed up and then after some time we were given a vote on whether to STAY in or leave – not quite the same thing. At the time many of us thought it would be detrimental to leave ( sour grapes etc you know the kind of thing) but would have voted No if given the chance FIRST)
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Agreed. But if you remember, we didn’t actually get a vote as to whether or not to JOIN the common market. The referendum was held AFTER joining to ask if we wanted to remain in or leave – not the same. I voted to stay in but would have voted NO to joining in the first place. It is a common myth, perpetrated by today’s politicians, that we voted to join the EU
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Reblogged this on groovmistress and commented:
Yes
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Agree entirely. Two points I’d like to make on this though. Firstly, fact has been distorted over the years and the referendum held in the 70s (I was there) was held AFTER we’d already been signed up to the Common Market. we were given a vote on whether to REMAIN in or come out – not the same thing at all. Many felt it would be detrimental to pull out after the event but would have preferred not to have joined in the first place if we’d been given the choice.
Secondly. I just don’t see how it helps our foreign trading capabilities to be in the EU – which is the main argument the politicians give. From what I can see most of our imports still come from the far east and we seem to have no problem in using foreign call centres, manufacturing facilities etc from all over the world so how would this change? China, US, Japan, et al all seem to manage without being part of the EU, so why shouldn’t we?
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ot http://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/news/one-man-protest-over-slave-labour-scheme-1-3587213
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Groovmistress – Very true, and the decision our Westminster masters may (or may not) graciously grant us is in fact exactly the same this time… whether to remain in the EU or leave.
I agree completely with your second paragraph. In the modern world, trade between European (or other) countries primarily depends on quality and price, not on whether or not the supplier is in the EU. Does anyone decide to buy a product from Poland instead of Switzerland simply because Poland is in the EU? I have been in that position many times when sourcing components for new laboratory instruments, and EU membership of the supplier made NO difference whatsoever.
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imv the EU’s and labour parties prime objective’s is to deliver social and therefore economic justice, to all citizens…both entities have failed to deliver…it is more like stand and deliver…
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In my view that was not the prime objective of either! But I agree that both entities have failed to deliver… unsurprisingly!
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As it stands we will be voting blue (never) or light blue, Ed has no guts, a referendum would be a great idea, along with the nationalisation of one of the big six energy companies restyled as not for profit (but investment), the living wage enshrined in law, and a complete rewiring of the electoral system, where every vote counts, even if it gives UKIP a place at the table, that’s democracy and we need to win the argument.
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I don’t think anyone in the fishing industry in the Scottish fishing industry would agree to staying in the E.U. as it has completely decimated it. I was a fisherman before I retired, and feel that most people would most definitely vote no, and would go as far as say this cost a lot of lost yes votes in the North of Scotland.
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Me too.
The problem for me though is that Labour have lost all credibility when it comes to promising referendums.
If memory serves they’ve already done something similar in the past, only to be seen going back on their word (didn’t they promise a referendum on the Lisbon treaty?).
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I’m against a referendum. If it actually does “empower” the electorate it means that a bunch of idiots who can’t stand foreigners and hate Nick Clegg will have direct responsibility for deciding British foreign policy.
If it doesn’t, then it is just an expensive fraud which allows whoever is in government to claim that they have “listened” to the voice of the people, before doing whatever they intended to do in the first place.
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