Thread by @sunny_hundal

Ok. *deep breath* a thread on Labour and Brexit. ⬇️

As a strong Remainer I find it odd when fellow Remainers attack the Labour leadership (Corbyn / McDonnell) for not being against Brexit enough. Its unnecessary and misguided. Here's why

1) The Corbyn/McD stance is classic Triangulation. (Yes, the t-word is back!)

Of course they won't admit to it. But leadership don't want to lose the mostly working-class-vote that are strong Leavers. Will they attract Tory Remainers to replace them? Seems doubtful.

And the quickest way to annoy its Leavers is by telling them their vote didn't count.

For the Labour leadership, Brexit is not a concern as big as transforming the economy. THAT is the project they are building a coalition of voters for.

2) The Trade Unions are largely against Brexit. They know it will hurt manufacturing jobs. THEY hold the ultimate veto, not us. Corbyn / McDonnell will never betray the unions (if you don't know this, you don't know them).

Crunch time, Labour will vote against Brexit.

3) We always knew Corbyn & McDonnell were ambivalent towards Brexit. They are behaving exactly as they think (in contrast to Cameron/Blair/May, who u-turned constantly).

In other words, Remainers are attacking Corbyn/McD for being the kind of politicians their supporters love.

... Which makes no sense to me. Of course Corbyn / McDonnell are going to be soft in their language over Brexit. They're doing a balancing act. And they were never strong Remainers to start with.

4) Its the politics. When the Tories are changing strategy every 5 min and constantly shooting themselves in the foot, sometimes the best strategy is to just give your enemies more rope.
Personally I've been frustrated with that. But I can see why they would like that idea.

Conclusion:
Remainers would be better off engaging with TUC/Trade Unions, doing constituency-by-constituency campaigning, and criticising Tory shambles over national airwaves. I think Keir Starmer is taking the right strategy.

If you're wondering why, if I'm right, the Bastani types keep justifying the Lexit arguments:
1) I suspect no one is talking to them about strategy
2) They feel they have to defend whenever Corbyn is attacked, so paint themselves into corner
3) they're naive about triangulation

I didn't see this earlier but it confirms my thinking. Labour is going for the jugular. Big risk big reward.

"Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary, told the Financial Times that a workable deal was “just not going to happen” under Mrs May."
ft.com/content/316535…