Thread by @judi_sutherland

1. Thread. I'm going to go on a bit of a rant now, if you don't mind.

It looks like we are going to have an EU election. Whether or not the people we elect actually sit as MEPs, the results of that election will be taken as a proxy referendum on the EU. Remember the GE of 2017?

2. Labour led us up the garden path with its "constructive ambiguity" AKA "fence sitting", so millions of pro-EU voters were induced to vote Labour. It was Peak Corbyn. Afterwards, that was construed as "88% of votes were for pro-Brexit parties so the "People" must want Brexit".

3. If we do the same again in the upcoming EU elections, the same wrong conclusion will be drawn. So I told my Labour MEPs, @Jude_KD and @PaulBrannenNE (who do a GREAT job, btw) that as things stand I can't vote for them this time and Jude replied...

4. "In the NE that approach will probably deliver more anti-EU MEPs not representing our region’s interests in EP. Worth thinking about".

And I say NO. I'm done with tactical voting. I want to vote for a pro-Remain party, and if Labour can't be that, then I'm done...

5. This is the biggest issue since WW2, about what kind of country we become. Labour has pulled a great trick since the Referendum making its supporters believe Brexit isn't that important. "Ooh! Look over there" Save the NHS! Stop Universal Credit! We need more buses!" but...

6. Without the prosperity that the EU provides, we won't be able to afford all this stuff. And Labour knows it.

Jude K-D's argument only works if only a few of us will do it - desert pro-Brexit Labour in favour of a pro-Remain party. But if ALL Remainers do it...

7. ... and there is a pro-EU Alliance meaning pro-EU parties don't stand against each other, then we WILL get pro-Remain parties in the EU Parliament, and not the bloody lukewarm, half-arsed, quibbly and equivocal support that Labour can currently manage.

8. The splinters in Labour's bum from sitting on that fence must be pus-filled by now. Anyway, there won't be a GE (Labour would lose, we'd get a hung parliament, which would solve NOTHING), its vision of a jobs first unicorn Brexit is over. So it is now time for Labour...

9. ...to fulfil the mandate of Conference and wholeheartedly support a new referendum with a REMAIN option. And then my current Labour MEP's will get my vote. The long game is over, Jeremy Corbyn. You have ONE WEEK to get this right.

10. So, Remainers, do not be fooled again into voting Labour in the EU elections, or in the local elections, unless they finally and bloody belatedly, come over to the Remain side. This has been a Public Service Announcement. Thank you.