Young Labour divided over call for Brexit conference vote

A fresh row has broken out amongst young Labour members over the party’s position on Brexit.

Young Labour, the party’s youth section for members under 27, held its first meeting of the newly elected committee on Sunday.

But committee members had already clashed on Twitter after the chair of Young Labour revealed she had written to Jeremy Corbyn calling for a vote on Labour’s Brexit policy at party conference in September.

The letter refers specifically to the LabourSay.EU campaign to give members a say on Brexit at conference, which was launched by the nine Progress and Labour First-backed NEC candidates.

Miriam Mirwitch, who was elected by a slim majority of under 100 votes in March, wrote to the Labour leader in her capacity as Young Labour chair. The letter was co-signed by national chair of Labour Students Melantha Chittenden.

It’s vital that Young Labour members have our voices heard on Brexit.

A hard Brexit that slashes worker’s rights, freedom of movement and single market access will hurt the many.@Melantha___ and I have written to our leader, @jeremycorbyn, calling for a vote at conference. pic.twitter.com/3EoHCYliaN

— Miriam Mirwitch (@mrwtch) May 19, 2018

Today the committee – which has a pro-Corbyn majority – passed a statement reasserting its “strong opposition” to another EU referendum. The statement warns that the chair should not “mislead the public” on Young Labour’s Brexit stance.

A Labour source said claims that the LabourSay.EU campaign was a “data-mining operation” by Corbynsceptic group Progress were discussed. When asked about the accusations earlier in the day, Mirwitch had tweeted that her “motivation for advocating [LabourSay.EU] isn’t data harvesting, it’s members having their voices heard”.

LabourList understands that when a vote was held, no committee member voted against the statement.

The full Young Labour committee statement says: “Young Labour’s national committee wishes to reaffirm its strong opposition to a second referendum on British membership of the European Union.

“As socialists and democrats, we respect the result of the 2016 referendum. We do not believe that it is the job of Young Labour to ignore and condescend Leave voters and believe that to do so would damage the credibility of the Labour Party in the eyes of the British people.

“During last year’s national conference, members overwhelmingly rejected a discussion and vote on Brexit through the priority ballot. Furthermore, attempts to undermine party policy at Young Labour’s October 2017 policy conference was resoundingly defeated.

“As national committee members elected on a mandate of sincere dedication to the socialist transformation of society – and of defending the political leadership of Jeremy Corbyn – we wholeheartedly affirm our support of Labour’s Brexit policy.

“Alongside the broader Labour and trades union movement, we fight for a Labour government that can deliver a departure from the European Union which guarantees the greatest benefit for the working class movement and provides the most advantageous way to implement a full socialist programme.

“Without any consultation, our National Chair signed a petition on a website which openly promotes itself as a funding operation for anti-Corbyn NEC candidates promoted by Labour First and Progress.

“As a committee, we therefore wish to collectively reassure members that Miriam Mirwitch’s actions do not represent Young Labour’s National Committee. We believe it is important that the Chair does not mislead the public on Young Labour’s position towards Labour’s Brexit policy.”

Young Labour National Committee wish to clarify our position. We fully support @jeremycorbyn ’s leadership and individuals cannot claim to represent our 100,000 + members without robust policy discussion. pic.twitter.com/U0cvnvgYgm

— Young Labour (@YoungLabourUK) May 20, 2018

Responding to the committee’s criticism, Miriam Mirwitch issued a statement that emphasised her joint letter had not claimed to reflect the views of other Young Labour committee members.

Mirwitch said: “I would like to reaffirm that as Chair of Young Labour I hold a mandate of my own and was elected via an OMOV ballot of all young members.”

“I didn’t say that the letter represented the view of the Young Labour national committee at any point,” she added. “I was simply lobbying for Young Labour members to have a say in policy.”

I will always fight for Young Labour members to have a voice is our movement.

Below is a statement on the letter I signed on consulting members on our Brexit strategy in my capacity as National Chair of Young Labour. pic.twitter.com/WUgsZ0H26x

— Miriam Mirwitch (@mrwtch) May 20, 2018

The row follows the selection of Janet Daby, who stood on a pro-EU platform advocating membership of the single market and customs union, in the safe Labour seat of Lewisham East. Her high-profile victory was seen by some as an indication that Labour members are unhappy about the party’s current Brexit position.

Asked whether Labour could back a “People’s Vote” at the FEPS-Fabian Society conference on Saturday, Keir Starmer told LabourList that there were “practical difficulties” with another referendum. The Shadow Brexit Secretary said “in” and “out” would have to be clearly defined, however he expected the Brexit deal to “come into full shape” by 2021 at the earliest and by then the remain option would have disappeared after having left the EU in March 2019.