Please Don’t Punish Yourself, By Punishing Labour.

I totally get why leave voters are angry with the Labour Party right now.

In the last General Election, Labour pledged to respect the EU referendum result. In the intervening two and a half years the Labour Party has changed it’s position on brexit. A combination of pressure from the grassroots, in conjunction with pressure from remain supporting MPs, has resulted in a policy to hold another referendum on any deal, including one that has been negotiated by our own party.

Feeling betrayed, leave voters are planning on casting their votes for leave supporting parties. Unfortunately this General Election is not another referendum. A vote for the Tory Party is a vote for more cuts to public services, more poverty, more inequality, lower pay, and most importantly it puts our NHS at grave risk.

The Labour Party is not a remain party, whilst it might seem that way to some. It has struggled with the best position to take on brexit. Thousands of labour members fought against the adoption of a public vote, alongside leave respecting MPs like John Trickett and Ian Lavery. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the party, has stated publicly his decision not to campaign on either side in a future EU vote, choosing instead to act as an honest broker who can implement the referendum result and then try to bring our country back together.

In the event of a future vote, I will campaign for leave, and I voted Remain in 2016. Many labour members will do the same. I beg all leave voters who are considering voting conservative or brexit party to punish labour, to please think again. Instead of treating this General Election as a second referendum, treat it as the General Election it is, with all the long term policy repercussions that go along with it.

Better to vote in a Labour government that will increase your wages, improve your work security, build council homes for all, save our NHS, free young people from student debt, clampdown on tax dodging, invest in infrastructure, nationalise our utilities, adequately fund our public services and vastly improve the lives of the majority of people in this country, than sacrifice all those wonderful things to treat this General Election as another Referendum. Then, if Labour win, you can vote leave in the Referendum we plan to hold. You might well resent having to vote again, and I get that, but better to resent voting again with more money in your pocket, more happiness and security in your life and that of your loved ones, than get the Brexit you crave under Boris Johnson (which Farage claims isn’t even Brexit) but miss out on all the good things that will come your way under Labour. Not ideal I know, but not too shabby either. For example under Labour:

Public sector workers would get a pay rise of 5% – an average of £1,643

16-18 year olds will get an average £3,497

18-20 year olds will get an average £5,986

21-24 year olds will get an average £4,485

Workers 25 and over will get an average £3,444

Unfortunately, to punish labour for it’s policy on a confirmatory vote, you have to punish yourself, your family, your friends and your community too. So please, I beg you, park your anger long enough to vote labour on December 12th. Hold your nose if you have to, the way I held my nose and voted Labour under Blair when I’d grown deeply disillusioned with his leadership. Think of it as punishment for a Conservative government who have failed to deliver brexit in 3 long years because of splits in their own party. Think of it as a punishment for a Conservative government who are using brexit to divide the working class who they have shat on for 9 long Years. Think of it as a punishment for a Conservative government who are responsible for 130000 deaths due to needless austerity. Think of it as a punishment for a Conservative government who called this general election confident in the knowledge working class voters would be so blinded by brexit they would vote against their own interests and those of their loved ones.
Think of it as a way of proving to a cocky Conservative government that you know full well whether they deliver brexit or not, you will never benefit from it because their party only represents the interests of the wealthy few.