May/Farron compromised on Brexit, Corbyn isn’t. He’s free to use Lab’s policy strength

Theresa May’s announcement this morning attempted to cast the newly-called General Election as all about Brexit – and it’s driven by her fear of the consequences in a 2020 General Election of her party’s chaos and incompetence over negotiations to leave the EU.

This has driven her to the extraordinary step of spending two months under a ticking, 24-month Brexit clock, fighting a domestic election instead of focusing on the task of securing a decent deal for the UK’s EU exit – not the actions of someone thinking straight and without an edge of panic.

But this is not May’s only issue with Brexit. She was a ‘remain’ campaigner who, if rumours are correct, is desperately trying to have pictures of her campaigning to stay in the EU removed from the internet and social media. Pictures like this one:

May is not the only party leader whose Brexit position is compromised. While the LibDems are attempting to recover their shredded reputation by positioning themselves as the anti-Brexit party, their leader Tim Farron has a chequered history in this regard, as his local newspaper reported in 2008:

Yes, you read that right – in 2008, Farron resigned from the LibDem front bench because he wanted an EU referendum.

Jeremy Corbyn, on the other hand, is well-placed to reap the rewards for his authenticity and honesty in the EU referendum. He was hugely and unfairly criticised at the time for telling Channel 4’s The Last Leg that he was “7-7.5 out of 10” in favour of the EU. He was also attacked for his ‘three-line whip’ on the Article 50 bill, when in reality he was playing a tricky hand very intelligently.

In spite of what the media will claim incessantly, Corbyn’s stance on Article 50 and his honest and sensible ambivalence about the EU put him in the best position to straddle the ‘Brexit gap’ that exists in the UK’s electorate – and then to move on to the real core issues of this election – and the strength of Labour’s policies, which have the support of the majority of the electorate.

Labour’s position is simple – and will strike a chord. It’s likely to run something like this:

We had the referendum, we support the result and will enact it, but we need unity and a Brexit that doesn’t mean people will lose jobs, rights or security. We will work for a Brexit for the 100%.

Now let’s move on and talk about the real issues we’re facing right now: the Tories’ destruction of our NHS, our schools, our vulnerable people, the rise of foodbanks, of zero hours contracts, attacks on our unions and our job security – and any one of countless other ways in which a Tory government is a disaster for 99.9% of us.

Here are Labour’s solutions, which the vast majority of British people support…

The media and the two other parties will, of course, be desperately peddling a different line and looking to frame the narrative to say that Labour’s position is weak and lacking credibility.

The reality couldn’t be more different and it’s up to every Labour MP and spokesman to refuse to be diverted from the message – and up to every Labour supporter who genuinely wants a Labour government after 8 June to hammer that message home in our conversations, our campaigning, our tweets and social media messages.

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