Labour Must Oppose Johnson’s Brexit Deal
PM Johnson has agreed a deal with the European Union on the terms on which Britain would leave.
Now he has to get it through the House of Commons, where he has no majority. Will he win? The talks were conducted in extreme secrecy (so much for the British people ‘taking back control’) but the thrust is becoming clear. For the working class Johnson’s deal is worse than the one Theresa May negotiated and Parliament rejected three times.
The Tories have obsessed about the Irish backstop and the accompanying issue of ‘sovereignty’. In fact Johnson has just turned the backstop into a full stop. The proposed new arrangement is a fudge. In the process he has lost the support of the DUP. The media have echoed this narrative.
For the labour movement it is more significant that promises about preserving workers’ rights, consumer protection and the environment have been moved from the Withdrawal Agreement, which is intended to be legally binding, to the Political Declaration. The latter is just a declaration of intent. If the Tories get away with destroying the regulatory restrictions on capitalism as they want to, it will become meaningless over time. Johnson intends his deal and his proposed Brexit to be part of an offensive against working class people.
In 2016 52% of the voters opted to leave the EU. The Referendum proposed a simple In/Out alternative. The terms on which Britain was to leave were left for negotiation. Labour’s position was clear. While respecting the referendum result Labour’s 2017 election Manifesto insisted on “retaining the benefits of the single market and the customs union.” It also emphasised the importance of maintaining, “Workers’ rights, equality law, consumer rights and environmental protections” embedded in EU law.
Theresa May was determined to leave the EU single market, the customs union and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in a hard Brexit. None of these proposals was on the ballot paper in 2016. She was caving in to the demands of her Tory eurosceptic backbenchers. Johnson’s deal incorporates all these points and goes further. It is worse.
On super Saturday (October 19th) Parliament is to sit on a Saturday for the first time since the Falklands War. Johnson has got his deal from the EU at the last minute. Now he wants to create a climate of emergency and blackmail the House of Commons into signing up to his tawdry deal.
A handful of Labour MPs in leave-voting seats are tempted to vote for the deal. It is quite clear that people are sick to the back teeth with Brexit. They want an end to all the talk. Nobody has explained that, even if Britain eventually quits, there will be years of tedious trade talks and economic uncertainty.
It needs to be explained to the wavering MPs that, to paraphrase Clausewitz “Tory Brexit is the continuation of Tory policies by other means.” It is a heaven-sent opportunity for Johnson to turn Britain into a low tax, unregulated capitalist ‘wild west’ in the North Atlantic. Theresa May’s pledge to the EU to maintain a ‘level playing field’ on wages and conditions with the EU is being torn up.
Owen Jones is right: “A Johnson deal is class war from above, a Tory heist, a scalpel taken to the country’s social fabric... A Labour MP who votes for a Johnson Brexit deal is voting to slash the living standards, rights and jobs of the very people their Party exists to represent and champion.”
Opposition parties are discussing a proposal to attach the demand for a second referendum to Johnson’s proposed deal on super Saturday. What would be the options on offer? The different groups opposing Johnson’s deal cannot unite around an alternative, or even whether a second referendum is desirable.
Johnson has threatened to leave without a deal if his deal is not passed. Labour’s 2017 Manifesto warned that, “Leaving the EU with ‘no deal’ is the worst possible deal for Britain and that it would do damage to our economy and trade.” Parliament has passed the Benn Act which is intended to veto a no deal option. Johnson is threatening to leave the EU come what may on October 31st. How will he get away with it? We know he is untrustworthy.
John McDonnell rightly called Johnson’s deal a ‘sellout’. He went on, “He’s sold out virtually every sector of our economy and all those who may have voted Leave believing a deal could be secured that protected their jobs.”
Johnson would rather “be dead in a ditch” than delay. In effect he is threatening Parliament with a choice of ‘his deal or no deal’. Both options are poison. If he wins the vote he’ll claim he ‘got Brexit done’. If he loses he’ll claim it’s ‘Parliament v the people’ (in fact it would be Parliament v the posh boys).
Oppose Johnson’s deal and oppose a no deal Brexit.
