Labour walked into a parliamentary trap if its own making last night by proposing a non-binding motion on the exercise of Article 50. When amended by the government to endorse, but notrequire, the triggering of Article 50 by 31 March the motion did three things.
First, it undermined the Supreme Court case that needs to be properly resolved for the future constitutional assurance that might provide.
Second, it said Labour will impose no conditions precisely because the vote was non binding.
Third, it accepted the claim the government made that Article 50 wil be treated as irreversible, come what may.
The result is that whatever the government gives now Labour has nothing left to ask and whatever the outcome of the negotiation with the EU it has, in effect, agreed to leave. As positions of weakness go it takes some considerable inability to get to one as poor as that.
There was parliamentary opposition yesterday from the SNP, LibDems and Greens. But Labour did, as usual now, choose irrelevance. I think it is sealing its own fate in the process. As the Liberals once died as a party I suspect Labiur is now doing the same and for the same reason: no one can be sure who they represent anymore. The only problem in this occasion is in recognising the heir apparent.
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And to think some of us voted for Corbyn because we though it was time for Labour to start acting like a real Opposition
Yes David…I finally gave up and cancelled my membership and DD last night, having (re) joined the Party in the hope that Corbyn (inspired of course by Richard’s work 😉 ) might actually grab the government warmly by the throat and start setting out a cogent, alternative vision for the future.
I began to despair when the Party disappeared up its own fundament in a (second), self-absorbed and ill-considered contest about which direction it should be going in while the government’s throat lay exposed for said (damned good) biting, but this was just too much. When Ian Duncan Smith tells you that you just wrote the government a blank cheque it’s time for a period of serious introspection.
Paraphrasing Richard, sadly this is where it ends – not with a glorious Left-wing bang, but a small unregarded whimper.
Indeed…
Best evidence yet that Corbyn not able, or powerful enough to lead the party. At this rate expect a Lib Dem revival. Once Brexit in motion opposition will lose influence on laws to replace EU law as well as negotiations. A white paper would have set out full implications of direction of travel. Ken Clark cut a lonely figure as last democrat on the government side of the house. Very bad times when the Judges are left to defend the constitution and the rights of a gutless, witless Parliament.
Sad when we have to rely on Ken Clark as a symbol of opposition
I always had a soft spot for Ken (the acceptable face of Conservatism?!)…but when your last best hope is Nicky Morgan the game’s up!
Well said, Richard. I’d looked at what was being proposed yesterday morning, and the government’s amendment, and thought ‘you dickheads’ (be polite).
To add to that, late yesterday afternoon I read Owen Jones’s article on the impending demise of Momentum. Anyone who hasn’t read this and is in any way interested in what may happen to the Labour Party, and Corbyn in particular, should read this, and for added insight the link in paragraph ten to an article by Laura Catriona Murray.
https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2016/dec/07/momentum-hope-saved-saboteurs-sectarian-labour
As someone who was active in the Labour Party in Michael Foot’s time, Laura’s account of what’s going/has gone on is like stepping through a time warp. And I feel saddened for young people like her as I know how the antics of the people she mentions and those of similar ilk impacted on me and many others back in the 1980s. But what I can tell Jones is that whatever he wishes Momentum as a mass movement for change is now finished. And that leaves me wondering what happens to Corbyn and co as their power base in and around the Labour Party disappears.
When Momentum collapses (and I think it will now) the disenchantment will be considerable
It’s not just Corbyn who will collapse with that but Labour as a whole
The Labour right have little to take comfort from here
The Labour Right have every right to all the comfort they will get from chasing UKIP voters with anti-immigration speeches that are ever such a tiny, tiny little bit racist.
None of them will ever get the non-executive directorships that used to be the culmination of a modern Paliamentary socialist’s career.
Looking at what was said in the debate I was struck by the total lack of knowledge by most MPs. This link & the article in it cannot be posted often enough:
http://outsidethebubble.net/2016/12/06/massive-negligence-by-theresa-may-when-home-secretary/
I have no idea where Labour is going on Brexit – they seem to hope that they will not be swept away by being …what? a tory poodle? Extract from Burnham speech:
“There is nothing socialist about a system of open borders that allows multinationals to treat people as commodities and to move them around Europe to drive down labour costs and create a race to the bottom”
yes – all very fine except research shows that migrants do not “drive down labout costs” (which seems to have a life of its own similar to that of another daft meme “the magic money tree” when government investment is talked about).
Fact free politics – the last refuge of scoundrels, morons & liars.
Agreed
Why is big business the loudest advocate of free movement of labour then? What do they know that we don’t? It’s simple supply and demand – if you increase the supply of unskilled labour the price that it is able to command (i.e. Wages) will decrease. Alternatively, it will increase slower than it would have otherwise done. Burnham is right – there is nothing socialist about free movement of labour.
I am not sure he is right: the evidence is migration does not significantly change wage rates when compared to other factors
I think they are worried about simply having enough labour whatever the price
In response to Mr Lane:
Leominster 0500hrs Sunday morning – summer (any summer) – lines of people walking out of the town towards fruit picking places. The people are East Europeans (mostly). Local Authorities are supposed to enforce minimum wage regulations (which in any case are inadequate) – but cannot – because the current Tory gov’ does not provide them with the funds to do this – or other LA responsibilities such as ensuring that people that pick fruit have reasonable working conditions. Companies (and banks) will always “work the angles” – governments are there to stop this happening. The Tory gov’ has decided to “down-size” & thus we have the situation we have – with companies “working the angles” and no governmental org’ willing or able to stop them.
Easy for people like Burnham to point the finger – the reality is that the government of which he was a member laid the foundations for the Tories to do what they did = eviscerate any way of controlling companies & ensuring that they act in a civilised fashion towards their workers.
“all very fine except research shows that migrants do not “drive down labout costs” ”
That research that aggregates together skilled and unskilled migrants.
Thank you Mike – how very interesting, and yet another example of the Opposition being incapable of taking the fight to the government (tho’ see yesterday’s forensic disembowelling of May’s stand-in by Corbyn’s stand-in at PMQ’s for a lesson in how it should be done). One point – which by coincidence I read about the other day but cannot, for the life of me, remember where – which might be relevant is the definition of ‘economically active’ which might/does? include those ‘actively looking for work’ as opposed to those who have a job to go to. …and Yes, Burnham’s performance was disgraceful.
As I think Jolyon pointed out, Labour are cowed. But which mainstream party is not? And please do not say ‘the Lib Dems’.
I also do not agree with Mike Parr’s assertion (sorry Mike mate) that immigration does not affect wages. Please have a look at this link below. It seems that immigration can cause wage deflation when the economy is under performing – especially when you have a Chancellor like Osbourne who took cash out of it for nearly 6 years.
The effect on immigration on jobs and wages needs a finer grained analysis in order to fully understand it and the link below asks some interesting and reasonable questions that if used could lead to better policies/interventions.
https://fullfact.org/economy/are-wages-going-down-because-immigration/
Thanks
Once again Richard, I think you’re right. My suspicion is that some on the labour far-left are thrilled to be leaving the EU “capitalist club”, whatever the costs may be, and are delighted to have the referendum result as a fig leaf of “the people hav spoken” to hide beind.
I find Labour’s silence on burning social issues when there are so many opportunities to speak out (for example, yesterday’s Joseph Rowntree Founation report on working families in poverty) to be absolutely mind boggling, and actually even harder to understand than things like Diane Abbot’s recent baffling comment that Labour did not have a “view” on the sovereignty of parliament.
Personally, I’d love to see the Green Party grow and be strengthened as the focus of a people-centric compassionate opposition to the groundswell of nastiness. Sadly, the media have chosen to largely overlook the Green Party, even though it has the same number of MPs as UKIP.
We’re an absolute shambles and frankly not a fit opposition, let alone a prospective party of government.
Our problems run deep and are not just about an inadequate leader. Our abject failure to assemble some sort of sensible, principled and consistent position over the most profound issue facing the country for a generation has been both an acute embarrassment, and a dereliction of our duty to perform the role of an effective opposition.
I think that’s a fair summary
Labour is a spent force. It has betrayed its core support the working class, it has taken their support for granted, ignored their concerns, talked down to them, treated them as unworthy.
The time is right for a new party, not Paddys B listers.
At a time when Labour should be in its element it is weak and has nothing to say.
I fear UKIP will fill the gap