Young Labour for a Final Say: “There is nothing ‘Left’ about Brexit”

Below is the official statement from Young Labour for a Final Say, responding to the Leave Fight Transform campaign’s Morning Star statement.

We, the undersigned have read the founding statement of the LeFT campaign and signed the passage below, as a response to this statement. We are Labour Party members.

We encourage civil debate and comradely behaviour across the left as we experience another national crisis at the hands of the Tories.
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We have 80 days until a no-deal Brexit. The country is faced with the grim reality that the Conservatives have transformed a democratic vote into a showboating opportunity for who can deliver the most chaos in order to keep their party afloat – without regard for the livelihood of workers, the vulnerable, the sick, nor regard for the safety of citizens at the Irish border. Boris Johnson wishes to demonstrate he will shed blood for his party. We have a duty to stand in solidarity with the millions that stand to be punished by him.

The pro-Brexit ‘LeFT’ campaign launched in the Morning Star, calling for severance from the treaties, institutions, and laws of the European Union, offers nothing beyond being another fringe group promoting a position in contradiction to that of the leadership of the Labour Party.

We are heading for a crash out no-deal Brexit which will undermine jobs, damage communities and place public services under threat. A last-minute campaign for Brexit while the UK stares down a no-deal crash out is a distraction from political reality.

The Brexit the campaign promotes will only facilitate the alt-right’s post-Brexit moves towards deregulation, extending privatisation and undermining workers rights, human rights and environmental rights. We should not accept an at-any-price Brexit.

A hard Brexit would be in breach of the Good Friday Agreement, which has brought an unprecedented era of peace to Ireland and the UK. Throwing the island of Ireland back into chaos for the sake of the Brexit project ends any notion of a left-wing Brexit under these terms.

Crashing out from the EU brings about an end not to Fortress Europe, but the expansion of Fortress Britain. It throws migrants under the bus, and any remaining say we have on their treatment by Europe.

There is nothing ‘Left’ about taking up a position that assists hard-right Brexiters in delivering their no-deal fantasy. There is nothing ‘Left’ about enabling the biggest expansion of border controls in decades and putting the rights of current and future EU migrants at risk. There is nothing ‘Left’ about undermining peace on the island of Ireland. There is nothing ‘Left’ about undermining the NHS, education and welfare.

Where is the international solidarity in a damaging Brexit that harms workers, communities and industries in Europe? Where is the international solidarity in taking a wrecking ball to the economy of the island of Ireland and those who work and live there? Where is the workers solidarity in supporting a job-destroying Brexit?

Successive right-wing governments have knowingly created and inflicted policies that resulted in pain, death and misery. A no-deal Brexit will have remarkably similar consequences, and we, the undersigned, will not stand by and allow this to pass.

There is nothing ‘Left’ or socialist about taking action which will harm others and promote racism and division. We must stand together and prosper, not be a ‘Left’ which ends up the midwife of a hard right agenda.

Signed:

Jake Cable, Welwyn Hatfield CLP
Abdallah S. Al-Ammari, Stirling CLP, Scottish Young Labour BAME Officer
Ana Oppenheim, Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP, Momentum member
Eloise Harris, Bethnal Green & Bow CLP, Co-Chair of QMUL Labour Society
Emily Wimbush, Halesowen and Rowley Regis CLP
Daniel Derry, Stirling CLP, Chair of Stirling University Labour Society, LGBT+ officer for Scottish Labour students
Tessa Milligan, Hemel Hempstead CLP
Sean Smyth, Bristol West CLP, Co-Chair Manchester Labour Students (signed in personal capacity)
Nina de Ayala Parker, Finchley and Golders Green CLP
Amen Tesfay, Enfield North CLP, Youth Officer
Mary Kate Ross, Motherwell and Wishaw CLP
Oban Mackie, Bridgwater and West Somerset CLP
Sabrina Huck, Tooting CLP
Dominic Breen, Junior Campaign Coordinator for Runnymede and Weybridge CLP and former council candidate
David Klemperer, Oxford West & Abingdon CLP
Joshua Charters, Oldham West and Royton CLP, Secretary of Oldham & Saddleworth Young Labour
Lisa Phillips, Oldham East and Saddleworth Women’s Officer
Jack Knight, Monmouth CLP
Benjamin Chadwick, Labour International
Cllr George Hulme, Oldham East & Saddleworth CLP, Chair of Oldham & Saddleworth Young Labour
Ryan Bogle, Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven CLP, Youth Officer
Javed Islam, Oldham West and Royton CLP, Treasurer of Oldham and Saddleworth Young Labour
Michael Bell, Newcastle East CLP
Lloyd Owen, Crewe and Nantwich CLP
Alex Holmes, Ilford South CLP, President of Birkbeck Labour Society, Secretary of Redbridge Young Labour, Vice Chair of Ilford South CLP
Patrick Jenkins, Labour for a Public Vote London Regional Organiser
Benjamin Glaves, Tatton CLP
Kira Millana Lewis, Bermondsey & Old Southwark CLP
Eileen Means, Bristol West CLP
Gerard Burke, Milton Keynes CLP
Jane Speller, Calder Valley CLP, joint Women’s Officer
Frank Chamberlain, Lewes CLP, Youth Officer
Mark Boothroyd, Camberwell and Peckham CLP, Unite health activist
Kai Greet, St Ives CLP
Mark McVitie, Westminster North CLP
Matthew Shannon, Nottingham East CLP, St Ann’s Branch Secretary
Ismaeel Yaqoob, Watford CLP
Jack Galea, Labour Students BAME Officer
Cathleen Clarke, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport CLP
Dan McGill, Old Bexley & Sidcup CLP, Policy Officer
Wrenna Robson, Cambridge CLP
Dennis Watling, Watford CLP, Youth Officer
Alun Barnett, Lewisham East CLP
Michael Millar, Nottingham South CLP
James Tait, The Wrekin CLP
Tom Cairns, Lewisham Deptford CLP
Liam Martin-Lane, Youth Officer, Ilford North CLP
Calix Eden, Lewisham West & Penge