Labour needs a referendum on Europe, now more than ever

The founder of UKIP, Alan Sked, has created a ‘new left wing anti-EU party’ called New Deal, according to the Guardian,.

Left-wing? Can this be the same Alan Sked who actually lost his deposit when he ran as Liberal candidate for Paisley (in a seat once held by Asquith)? Ever a patron saint of lost causes, Sked founded the Anti-Federalist League in 1991 and contested the Newbury by-election in May 1993, sharing a platform with the late Enoch Powell and polling 1% of the vote. A couple of months later he polled 1.6% of the vote at a by-election in Christchurch. None of this bodes well for the future success of New Deal and Labour voters are unlikely to be attracted by someone with no previous connection to the Labour movement.

Left wing Eurosceptics already have a voice within the Labour party – they do not need to join the so-called New Deal to be heard. MPs like Graham Stringer, Kate Hoey and Austin Mitchell frequently put the case for a socialist critique of the EU.

Having said that, Alan Sked’s new party has signature policies which are likely to resonate with traditional Labour and ex-Labour voters. The New Deal party advocates a withdrawal from the EU, renationalisation of the railways and abolition of the bedroom tax. Such policies will also appeal to voters who have completely given up on party politics. 75% of skilled working class voters and 77% of unskilled working class voters voted in 1992 but by 2010 that had fallen to 58% and 57% respectively. The voting gap between the proportion of professionals who voted and the skilled working class who voted widened from 8% to 18% during the same period.

The gentrification of the Labour Party and the growth of a ‘political class’ has served to create an ever widening gap between Labour leaders and our traditional working class supporters. Nowhere is this more evident than on the EU, where polls show that up to 50% of voters are in favour of leaving the EU. Support for withdrawal is highest among working class voters.

The most obvious way to bridge that gap is for Labour to embrace a straight forward in/out EU referendum to be held as soon as possible after we return to power. This would be popular with voters and especially with those we need to win back.

According to a recent ComRes poll, 40% of those who voted Labour in 2010 – our core voters – say they are less likely to support Labour without the promise of an EU referendum. That same poll showed that 49% of all voters in the South West region and 53% of voters in the South East – key areas in which we have to gain seats in order to form a government – expect any party to support an EU referendum if it hopes to win their vote. The ComRes poll shows similarly high levels of support across the country as whole. Last year, a poll in Ed Miliband’s Doncaster North constituency showed 73% of Labour voters wanting a referendum and 29% of Labour voters would seriously consider switching to a party that is offering a referendum. It should be a cause for concern that earlier this year, Labour lost its safest council seat in nearby Rotherham to a UKIP candidate.

It would also divide the Tories, exposing Cameron’s re-negotiation tactics as a sham.

Finally, an EU referendum may paradoxically be the only way of securing Britain’s future in the EU because the longer we delay holding a referendum the more likely is a British exit. That indeed is why most of the MPs supporting Labour for a Referendum are europhiles.

Richard Cotton is the Political Director of Labour for a Referendum