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This is disheartening from Labour.
IMO Labour should abstain on the deal, but I've always thought that the position on Brexit going forward was much more important than one vote. This suggests Starmer simply wants to ignore Brexit, which is a mistake. 1/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/29/labour-will-not-seek-major-changes-to-uks-relationship-with-eu-keir-starmer
IMO Labour should abstain on the deal, but I've always thought that the position on Brexit going forward was much more important than one vote. This suggests Starmer simply wants to ignore Brexit, which is a mistake. 1/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/29/labour-will-not-seek-major-changes-to-uks-relationship-with-eu-keir-starmer
Whilst voters *right now* want Brexit to be over (yesterday's @OpiniumResearch polling was clear on this), it's highly likely that this deal is only the starting point for *more* disputes with Europe and internal debates about the UK/EU relationship. 2/ https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1344029212605374464?s=19
For all that the ERG are currently on board, the deal - as it stands - doesn't give them anything like the ability they wanted to diverge from EU regulations. Damian Chalmers for @UKandEU explains here. 3/ https://ukandeu.ac.uk/british-sovereignty-run-by-europe/
For them, divergence was the entire point of Brexit - so it's highly likely they will push for further breaks with the EU, leading to further disputes. Yet equally, the deal could be a starting point towards greater convergence as @IanDunt describes. 4/ https://www.politics.co.uk/comment/2020/12/29/never-ending-story-deal-unveils-next-decade-of-brexit-arguments/
The agenda of further divergence is explicitly right-wing, aimed at removing rights and protections to make Britain more "competitive". Yet most Leave voters lean to the left on economics, particularly the ex-Labour leave voters who voted Tory in 2019. 5/
Given that Brexit probably won't go away as an issue, there is clearly an opportunity for Labour to promote a more progressive version of Brexit, which does less economic harm and guarantees rights and protections which are popular with most people. 6/
Overall, this deal hits a sweet spot where significant economic damage is done, without game-changing amounts of sovereignty being returned to the UK. This should be another strand to Labour's incompetence attacks on the Tories, not something to hide from. ENDS
