The fault line on Europe must indeed be with the Tories, not with British membership

In all of the media coverage since Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, the Tory Eurosceptic press have scented the opportunity to highlight supposed divisions in our party over the EU referendum.

Getting trapped inside that sort of media-driven frenzy is precisely the sort of ‘old politics’ which Jeremy and his supporters were campaigning to change, which perhaps explains the deliberate caution in responding to the accusations.

It is not wrong for a new party leader in his first week in office to want to discuss issues with his new team and – on the Europe issue – that includes his Labour MEPs.

But let us distinguish between what is said about Jeremy, with what he actually says himself.

As a leadership candidate in July, Jeremy said:

“We cannot be content with the state of the EU as it stands. But that does not mean walking away, but staying to fight together for a better Europe.”

Now as Labour leader, last night he told the BBC that if Cameron did an EU deal in which social and environmental protections disappeared:

“What I would do is oppose those policies, I would argue to stay in Europe but to bring in a manifesto commitment in 2020 to change those policies.”

It comes at the end of a week when Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn has said Labour would campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union “in all circumstances;” and Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle said Labour’s commitment is about making Europe better.

Even John McDonnell, who had openly speculated about a ‘wait and see’ strategy, in the same statement said “Jeremy said clearly he wants to remain in Europe.”

So as Jeremy said himself last night: There is no problem.

Labour MEPs have long argued that we should not defend the European ‘status quo’. Labour is the reform party in European as in British politics, not the Tories.

And I hope Jeremy will not mind if I remind him that Labour MEPs were voting for ‘Social Europe’ on issues such as working time and on worker consultation, when these European proposals were actually being opposed by the party in Westminster at the time.

Indeed the debate shouldn’t just be about reintroducing rights lost in any of Cameron’s reforms, but also exploring in which other ways Labour can campaign to extend fair social protections, working with our Socialist and Democrat colleagues across the rest of Europe?

For party members, who can be forgiven for being confused by all of this, what are some of the political lessons?

First, that the EU referendum campaign is well underway, and that anti-Europeans will waste no opportunity to try to ‘play up’ divisions in our party, in barely disguised efforts to blunt our pro-EU message.

Next, even during the tumultuous changes that has seen the new membership influx which helped lead to Jeremy’s election, the new forces have now shown they remain as resolutely in favour of Britain’s membership of the EU as the rest of the party has consistently been over the past thirty years.

This week’s statement on behalf of 100 Labour MPs re-affirming our pro-EU stance and the survey in ‘The Times’ showing our membership does the same, underline how far this remains true today.

A further lesson, however, is that we cannot allow the political debate about EU reform within Britain to be between Conservative and ultra-Conservative positions.  By further developing our own Labour reform agenda, Labour supporters within the country will see a vision of how Europe might be, not just how it is today.

Ironically, Labour opposition on particular reforms might actually strengthen Cameron’s hand with his own backbenchers, that his ultimate proposals really are substantive.

So on both the left and right of British politics, the emerging Labour position might actually strengthen electoral support for Britain’s EU membership.

But the problem with a simple ‘wait and see’ position on the whole package – notwithstanding Labour’s principled pro-internationalist position – is that blanket party support at that point would allow too much political credit for Cameron himself, and obscure where the disagreement is genuine.

That would precisely be the ultimate ‘blank cheque’ which Jeremy is rightly seeking to avoid.  Or it would force Labour in to an anti-EU membership position, which the party would know to be wrong.

We have to be pro-European for our own reasons, not for new ones which Cameron deigns to give us. The right time to say that is now, not later.

Finally, party members should understand the difference between warning that a Cameron EU deal which is bad for workers would make it more difficult to persuade working people to vote in favour of remaining in the EU, and the different proposition that the party would actually campaign for an EU exit.

That is precisely the debate that played out at the TUC in Brighton this week, in which the agreed General Council statement warned Cameron against taking the votes of millions of trade unions for granted.  It did not say there would be a ‘no’ campaign if workers’ rights are threatened.

“The Tories are doing this regardless of the EU. They are doing this because they want to and they won’t stop until we stop them,” said Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner in moving the statement to Congress.

I hope this same distinction will be understood at Labour Party Conference too. But, most of all, I hope it is a warning heeded by David Cameron himself.

After all, this issue appears to be principally about EU working time rules, from which Britain already has a substantial opt-out. The Prime Minister should think carefully about risking Britain’s EU membership further on this issue.  I am sure Labour MEPs will maintain our stance that a European solution should be found to end the opt-out altogether.

So, Jeremy was right to clarify his position on the BBC last night. I know he is hearing this message from Labour MEPs directly, but it is important that the wider party sees and hears the joint commitment of our whole party to our country’s European future.

Richard Howitt MEP is Labour Member of the European Parliament for the East of England and Chair of the European Parliamentary Labour Party.