I can't support the Labour Party until they truly commit to a People's Vote
Last night, my friends and I played a European Elections 2019 drinking game. We wrote down a number of likely scenarios – ‘Farage chats nonsense’ or a ‘male panelist talks over a woman’, and drank when they did.
The one square that was easily the most used last night was ‘Lib Dem Surge.’ It was one of the defining narratives of the night, with a flurry of their votes coming from life-long Labour voters who are disillusioned with the party they love.
People like me. I couldn’t vote for my party. I just couldn’t do it. I and many others wanted to make it clear that we thought Brexit would harm this country, and that we demand a People’s Vote.
A whole generation of young people have been waiting for the Labour Party to stop its half-hearted support of a public vote and, in some circumstances, abandoned the party altogether to add their voice to a full-throated campaign for a People’s Vote.
But now the results of the European Elections are in and Labour voters, members and activists have made clear what we think of the party’s ambiguity around a People’s Vote. The overwhelming majority of Labour voters back it, which is why we have flocked to the Lib Dems, and why I have a sore head this morning.
And we have now seen key figures on the front bench – from Diane Abbott to John McDonnell – put increasing pressure on an increasingly isolated Jeremy Corbyn to unequivocally back a People’s Vote.
Labour’s unequivocal support for a People’s Vote would change the Brexit debate over night.
The reality is that whilst this is obviously a good thing, many Labour supporters will legitimately question where this urgency has been for the past six months. Now is the time for action, not just more words.
I was always going to join the Labour Party. I grew up in Redditch, in the West Midlands, Labour, through and through. To be honest, Labour wasn’t a political party where I grew up, it was a state of mind.
The first thing I did as a 16 year old with a new bank account was join the Labour Party. I was a young, working class person who cared about society being a more just and equal place. Labour values were my values.
As a young gay man, I also grew up at a time of great societal progress for the LGBTQ+ community. Unlike generations of gay men before me, I would have the opportunity to get a civil partnership or married, adopt children, use the law to address inequality or serve in the military.
At every step of the way, I felt like the Labour Party were leading the charge for people like me. They had a compass for what I believed was right, even if it wasn’t always immediately popular.
But now, I am disappointed in them. To win back many of the voters they lost last week they must take this once-in-a-generation opportunity and clearly back a People’s Vote on any agreed Brexit deal.
There is a clear Remain majority in this country: when you put together all of the votes for clearly pro People’s Vote parties, they far outstrip Hard Brexit parties – even when leaving out Labour and Conservatives in ‘the middle’.
Farage and the hard right may try and make the European Elections about them but if we try we can genuinely get a People’s Vote, and with the combined might of the new Remain majority in this country, we can win it.
Labour’s unequivocal support for a People’s Vote would change the Brexit debate over night, and the electoral fortunes of my party. There are five months left until the latest deadline for us to leave the European Union.
I would urge the leaders of my party to not waste any more time.
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