On Tuesday morning, the SKWAWKBOX highlighted the right-wing ‘centrist’ Labour MPs – all of whom happen to have a record of trying to remove party leader Jeremy Corbyn – who are expressing a willingness to prop up Theresa May’s collapsing government.
‘In the national interest’, of course.
On Monday night, Stephen Kinnock joined them by telling LBC’s Clive Bull:
I don’t think right now that we should be talking about general elections.
Kinnock also told Bull that rather than seek a general election to depose Theresa May:
I think we’ve got to unite around the position that gives us an EEA-based Brexit.
Not remove the disastrous Tory government, but ‘unite’ to achieve a particular technical type of Brexit.
Millions of people are suffering terrible hardship under the Tories and 120,000 deaths have been linked to their policies. Millions of children are in poverty and many more are predicted to join them during the remainder of this government’s scheduled term.
Record numbers of disabled people are attempting suicide, the NHS is collapsing and being sold off. Homelessness is soaring and Universal Credit is inflicting misery on huge numbers of people while the DWP Secretary lies over and over to Parliament that it’s all going swimmingly and needs to go faster.
The situation is so bad that the UK has been censured by the UN for its inhumane treatment of our citizens.
Kinnock’s prescription? Wait to see if the government can ‘continue delivering‘ (!) – and then:
when the general election comes, people will have the chance to vote them out of office.
The SKWAWKBOX contacted Mr Kinnock for comment. He responded:
This government is doing huge damage to our country, and I’d like to see them booted out of office as soon as possible. In October 2017 I wrote for the Guardian calling for a motion of no confidence, (https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/24/theresa-may-should-face-no-confidence-vote-over-brexit-says-stephen-kinnock)
but that was months ago, and we are now just three months from the meaningful vote in Parliament on the Withdrawal Agreement. In order to have a General Election now we’d need the government to request an extension to Article 50 and for that to be unanimously approved by the EU27 which is highly unlikely.Given that an extension to Article 50 is therefore a pre-condition for a General Election, and that the chances of securing an extension before the meaningful vote are basically zero, then my point is that we clearly have to focus now on securing the best possible Brexit.
A hard Tory Brexit would do immense damage to our economy, and would effectively make it impossible for a future Labour government to put our socialist values, principles and policies into practice.
Between now and October Labour must focus on pressurising May to get the best possible deal for jobs and public services. Then we’ll see what happens after the ‘meaningful vote’ in the autumn.
A LOTO source told the SKWAWKBOX:
We want a general election at the earliest possible opportunity. The national interest is best served by a Labour government.
Comment:
The next election is not until 2022, if this government limps to its full term. Just four more years to suffer.
The idea that we should prop up one of the most damaging Tory governments in history because it might inconvenience the Brexit negotiations is an interesting one – not least because it assumes an ability to reach an agreement on the part of Theresa May that she has come nowhere near demonstrating yet.
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