Britain's Labour Party leader backs Brexit referendum
Source: Reuters
World News
February 28, 2019 / 1:58 AM / Updated 8 minutes ago
Guy Faulconbridge, Kylie MacLellan
LONDON (Reuters) - Britains opposition Labour Party will back a new referendum on Brexit after parliament defeated its alternative plan for leaving the European Union, its eurosceptic leader Jeremy Corbyn said.
With 29 days left until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union, both Prime Minister Theresa May and Corbyn have been forced into making changes to their approaches to the divorce.
Corbyn, who voted against membership in 1975 and gave only reluctant backing to the 2016 campaign to remain in the EU, on Wednesday gave ambiguous backing for another referendum, saying he would push for one alongside a British parliamentary election.
It is the first time since Britons voted in 2016 to leave the EU that one of its two major political parties has thrown its weight behind giving voters a chance to change their minds.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu/britains-labour-party-leader-backs-brexit-referendum-idUSKCN1QH0P4?il=0
May just doesn't get it and her Tory party is hell bent on austerity in the long term.....................amazing
zaj
(3,433 posts)Seems like a reasonable next step.
If that "leave" plan is adopted, then "leave" is strongly justified. A 2nd vote is what's needed.
turbinetree
(24,745 posts)to get this thing passed the last time, plus they had in my opinion outside influence you might say being involved................Britain's economy will crash if she keeps trying to put their tory plan in place, its that simple, and then you have to go after programs within the country, which means austerity.
I really believe that she wants and has shown that she is like Margaret Thatcher, her hero..................
Yavin4
(35,455 posts)which is the true motivation behind Brexit, create an economic crisis and deploy austerity measures to destroy the social programs in the UK.
Gumboot
(531 posts)With the lords and ladies borne aloft by millions of starving peasants.
It's what Margaret Thatcher wanted all along.
Soph0571
(9,685 posts)He wants an election really - he will not get one unless the government collapses. But that is now more unlikely than ever after saying he will support a second referendum. The tories will circle the wagons and push something through to make sure Brexit happens. He does not have a majority to force through a 2nd referendum and the DUP will vote for any deal that blocks him.... all very very interesting
Personally I want a second referendum but it does have problems
What would we be voting for - is it 2 way or 3 way:
1. Stay
2. leave (no deal)
3. leave (May's deal)
What if the turnout is lower than in 2016? What is stay wins but with an overall total of less than those who voted to leave in 2016. Would that be considered legitimate by original leavers?
None of this is easy. Personally I think Parliament should just say that it was an advisory referendum. We considered the advice of the people and after careful consideration we have decided that your advice stinks and we are withdrawing from Brexit. Then people can decide in the next general election which party they think could make a success of Brexit, potentially, in the future...
turbinetree
(24,745 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,414 posts)If it did go down, the arguments about what is "the will of the people" would go on forever. However, I did seem some commentary, I think in the YouGov site, saying that the reason that 'remain' tends to lead 'leave' in polls these days is not due to 2016 voters changing their minds - those that have balance each other out, they reckon - but from people who didn't vote in 2016 saying they would vote this time, and most of those would vote 'remain'. If that enthusiasm could be maintained for a real referendum, it might work (however, judging enthusiasm from a poll is trickier than ever, if only enthusiastic people answer your poll ...)
I think any politician saying "we're going to call it 'only advisory' now" would go down in flames, and you'd be left with the nutters like Rees-Mogg in charge. Too risky, I reckon.
Ford_Prefect
(7,933 posts)They are all of them (Tory and Labour) bent on resuscitating the moribund corpse of the long-dead empire as a means to justify their own horrid versions of a white Christian dominated world. Corbyn's is only a few degrees less gruesome than the Tory edition of Thatcherite austerity. He merely leans in another direction without actually moving his feet from the empowered privilege he so clearly anticipates.
DavidDvorkin
(19,510 posts)No one's trying to resuscitate the British Empire. The plutocracy simply doesn't like outside interference that weakens their power within the UK.
Soph0571
(9,685 posts)Or at least the power that the Empire provided
Ford_Prefect
(7,933 posts)by Murdock, Putin and other un-indicted co-conspirators whose desire is weakening the EU and Britain. The Tories appear to desire scorched earth rather than meaningful dialogue leading to constructive governance. Labour wants their presumed piece of whatever is left post-Brexit.
Neither acknowledges the damage which has been predicted nor the decades it will last, nor those who will suffer from this arrant political duplicity.
Like certain political leadership on this side of the pond, they neither admit the horrible truths their policies generate for ordinary citizens nor the damage they do to the rest of the world in stubborn ignorance of all guidance otherwise and in arrogant disregard for the expressed will of many among their own party members.
Political expediency my ass...
Javaman
(62,540 posts)because as it is now, the Brits are truly fucked.
if they revote and still choose to leave, then they deserve all the misery coming their way.
DavidDvorkin
(19,510 posts)Is that it makes those who don't agree suffer as well. It's like saying that all Americans deserve to suffer the effects of Trumpism.