Benn rejects UKIP’s “Victorian” view of Britain as he makes patriotic case for staying in EU

Hilary Benn today attacks Nigel Farage’s case to leave the EU as based on a view of Britain’s role in the world “that belongs in the Victorian era and not in the 21^st century”.

The shadow Foreign Secretary responds to fears that Labour voters are drifting towards Brexit by making the “patriotic case” for staying in the EU and criticising the Leave campaign’s nostalgia for a “bygone age” borne out of the British Empire.

Benn’s intervention is one of several major Labour speeches in a week in which Jeremy Corbyn and Gordon Brown will also issue appeals to left-wing voters as the polls tighten.

Today Benn takes on the Leave campaign’s slogan – which urges voters to “take back control” – and set out why he believes Britain’s national interest lies in “patriotic internationalism”, or the voluntary alliances of independent countries.

“The Leave side say, ‘We can stand alone’ and ‘Britain can be great again’. Well I say Britain never stopped being great and can be greater still in future.

“It is the Leave campaign who are doing down our country, even though we lead in the UN, NATO, and the Commonwealth as well as in the EU. They seem to think that we are not capable of continuing to exert our influence in Europe.”

Benn is part of a final push aimed at Labour voters, amid fears postal vote returns show many in the party’s heartlands are choosing Brexit, and after two prominent Labour backbenchers came out for a vote to leave.

The Labour veteran, who first served as a minister under Tony Blair, will launch an attack on the rhetoric of the Leave campaign and say Outers such as Farage, the UKIP leader, hold a view of Britain’s leadership role in the world “that belongs in the Victorian era and not in the 21^st century”.

“They sound as if they mourn for the bygone age in which Britain gained influence through military strength and Empire,” Benn will say.

“In the second half of the 20^th century, we came to realise that it was far better and far more effective to be a global power that achieved its goals through co-operation rather than conquest.

“The New Elizabethan Age we now live in has been one in which Britain has succeeded through persuasion, building relationships, proclaiming British values, promoting free trade, and upholding the rule of law and universal human rights.

“This decision to exchange hard power for soft power was an enormously courageous step to take because it meant giving up the means by which we had prospered in the past. But it paid off.”