A general election can break the Brexit deadlock and help overcome the country’s divisions
Jeremy Corbyn
In a speech in Wakefield tomorrow (10 Jan 2019), Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will argue that a general election is the way to break the Brexit deadlock and will make a passionate call to unite both leave and remain voters, against the interests of the few.
Corbyn’s decision to deliver his speech in Wakefield – a city which voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU in the 2016 EU referendum – will be seen as strongly symbolic of his continued commitment to representing both leavers and remainers.
Corbyn will reaffirm that Labour will vote against Theresa May’s Brexit deal and will challenge the May to call a general election for the sake of the country, arguing that a government with a new mandate can “negotiate a better deal for Britain and secure support for it in Parliament and in the country.”
The Labour leader will lay out his Party’s approach to bring together leave and remain voters around their common interests and declare that “the real divide is between the many, who do the work, create the wealth and pay taxes, and the few, who set the rules, reap the rewards and so often dodge taxes”.
On the need for a general election, he is expected to say:
Let there be no doubt: Theresa May’s deal is a bad deal and Labour will vote against it next week in parliament.
If the government cannot pass its most important legislation, then there must be a general election at the earliest opportunity. A government that cannot get its business through the House of Commons is no government at all. So I say to Theresa May: if you are so confident in your deal, call that election, and let the people decide.
To break the deadlock an election is not only the most practical option, it is also the most democratic option. It would give the winning party a renewed mandate to negotiate a better deal for Britain and secure support for it in Parliament and across the country.
For both sides, the EU referendum was about so much more than our relationship with our biggest trading partner and its rules. It was about what’s happened to our people over decades and how to build a better future.
The need for a government with a clear purpose and direction for the country could not be more urgent. Labour stands ready to bring leave and remain voters together to rebuild Britain for the many, not the few.
On overcoming the country’s divisions, Jeremy Corbyn is expected to say:The real divide in our country is not between those who voted to remain in the EU and those who voted to leave. It is between the many, who do the work, create the wealth and pay taxes, and the few, who set the rules, reap the rewards and so often dodge taxes.
If you’re living in Tottenham, you may well have voted to Remain. You’ve got high bills, rising debts, you’re in insecure work, you struggle to make your wages stretch, and you may be on universal credit and accessing food banks. You’re up against it.
If you’re living in Mansfield, you are likely to have voted to Leave. You’ve got high bills, rising debts, you’re in insecure work, you struggle to make your wages stretch, and you may be on universal credit and accessing food banks. You’re up against it.
People across the country, whether they voted Leave or Remain, both know that the system isn’t working for them. Some see the European Union as a defence against insecurity and hostility. Others see the European Union as part of an establishment that plunged them into insecurity and hostility in the first place.
But it’s the failed system rigged against the many to protect the interests of the few that is the real cause of inequality and insecurity, whether in Tottenham or Mansfield. And the real solution is to transform Britain to work in the interests of the vast majority, by challenging the entrenched power of a privileged elite. That is how we can help to heal the referendum’s deep divisions.
Jeremy Corbyn
SKWAWKBOX comment:
The Establishment media and centrist politicians will not say it – of course – but Jeremy Corbyn is the only party leader trying to work for all the UK’s people, not only the 52% or the 48% and to find a solution that will bring the country together instead of inflaming tensions and divisions.
For that reason and many others, he is the Prime Minister the country needs to see in Downing Street rather than in waiting, at the earliest opportunity.
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