Over 40 Labour donors and long-standing members have written to Jeremy Corbyn demanding that he “back a public vote without further delay”.
The letter, sent to the Labour leader today, warns that “time is dangerously short” and “the current deadlock is slowly but surely wrecking the economy”.
Citing Theresa May’s “dismal record as a negotiator” and “propensity to put party before country”, the party donors say they could not trust her to deliver the right Brexit result – even if parliament were to vote for Labour’s alternative Brexit plan.
Many of the signatories are members of Labour’s Rose Network, and the list includes some who have donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Labour Party.
Below is the letter to Jeremy Corbyn in full.
Dear Jeremy,
We write to you as long-standing Labour members and supporters, from business, public service and the professions.
You were right to say in Wakefield earlier this month that “it’s the failed system, rigged against the many to protect the interests of the few, that is the real cause of inequality and insecurity”. This is responsible for high bills, rising debts, insecure work and people forced to use food banks.
And that’s why we need a Labour government: to invest in vital industries; to help places that have been robbed of their future by the toxic combination of misguided economic policies, lack of investment and drastically declining public services.
But despite defeating Theresa May’s destructive Brexit deal, we have so far failed to force a general election. And now the country is staring into the abyss as Tory extremists push for us to crash out of the EU with no deal at all.
If this happens, working people will be hurt the most. There will be no money to invest in new technologies of the future – and no money for proud, generous communities that have been held back for decades.
Labour policy is to consider all remaining options, including a public vote. But time is dangerously short, and the current deadlock is slowly but surely wrecking the economy. Even if parliament, against most expectations, were to vote for Labour’s Brexit plan, given the Prime Minister’s dismal record as a negotiator and propensity to put party before country, we could never trust her to deliver the result that Labour proposes and the country needs.
We therefore believe that the party must move to the only logical conclusion: trust the people and ask them whether they still want to quit the EU now they know what Brexit really means.
Time is running out. The economy is already bleeding. As longstanding and committed party members, we urge you to back a public vote without further delay.
In solidarity,
1. Hamish Sandison, Chair Labour Business
2. Tommy Hutchinson, Founder CEO I-Genius
3. Cllr Jo Blackman
4. Kate O’Rourke, Lawyer
5. Stephen Kinsella OBE
6. Dame Glenis Willmott, Former Leader EPLP
7. Sir Ken Collins, Former MEP
8 David Cockroft, Former General Secretary International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)
9. Howard Pallis, Solicitor
10. Jon Browning OBE
11. Rt Hon Keith Hill
12. Prof. Rosemary Sales
13. Keith Lichman, Former Councillor
14. Gary Titley, Former Leader EPLP
15. Carole Tongue, Former MEP
16. David Harley CMG
17. Patrick Costello, Labour International
18. Monica Threlfall, Senior Lecturer
19. Nilly Sarkar, Labour International
20. Anne Page
21. Bruce Page, Journalist
22. Don Brind, Journalist
23. Anita Pollack, Former MEP
24. Robert McFarland, Chartered Accountant
25. Michael Rubenstein, Journalist
26. David Earnshaw, Chair Brussels Labour
27. Michael Hindley, Former MEP
28. Chris Pond, Chair Lending Standards Board, Former MP,
29. Lorraine Pond, Former Mayor Tower Hamlets
30. Jo Wood, Labour International
31. Win Griffiths OBE, Former MEP and MP
32. Maggie Coulthard, Labour international
33. Frazer Clarke, Labour International
34. Peter Wragg, Labour International
35. Anne Corbett
36 Paula Kahn
37 Frances Pinter
38. Annie Hedge
39. Howard Gennmerster
40. Mike Vessey
41. Keir Fitch
42. Peter Kenyon
This article was amended to reflect that not all of the signatories are current donors.
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