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It's Brexit revisionism day... 1/ I pushed for Labour to adopt a Norway style deal a) after the Referendum and b) again from July 2018. Leadership said no both times... then in early 2019 came the research showing Labour was losing more Remain votes than Leave votes...
2/ Theresa May's deal was an *attack on the working class*. No Labour MP or trade union leader could have supported it. The options were Norway or Johnson's hard Brexit...
3/ For as long as possible many on Labour left held out for a Norway solution: single market, free movement - and there were signs the SNP would have gone for it...
4/ Once May was gone, the only way forward was to fight for PV+ Remain. That was the fight (because you can't remain without a second referendum)... and 80% of Labour members wanted that...
5/ The problem was not just that Corbyn dithered: as we now see, the "left" included loads of closet Lexiteers (and some principled ones who were open from the start)... all prepared to ditch free movement
6/ The point of left politics is sometimes you have to stand against the stream - like Keir Hardie, shouted down by workers in 1914 for opposing the war... and those who fought Brexit will be very proud once ppl realise how sh*t the outcome is...
7/ We went on the streets to oppose the Prorogation, we fought (behind the scenes) for a coalition govt to take control from Johnson without an election: the SNP/Libdems pulled the plug and handed Johnson a Brexit election
8/ The fact remains: Britain's future is in a comprehensive free trade agreement with Europe, with common standards and oversight... and the "smash the imperialist global system" Lexiters were wrong from the get-go https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/brexit/2020/11/uk-must-embrace-european-future-or-accept-isolation-and-decline
9/ We will not rejoin the EU this side of 2050 I think. But Labour should fight for the closest possible trade, security and migration links. Don't even think about maintaining the Union without that.
