I had a chat with a strongly pro-Corbyn remainer today and explored our differences of opinion about what to do in the local elections in May. Here are my thoughts:
I am not affiliated to any party; I vote for policies in the given circumstances, not a party.
Brexit is the single biggest issue facing us. It modulates every other issue. What happens with this issue will affect us for generations.
In terms of my values and position on the aeU, the Conservatives are a lost cause as a party for the foreseeable future. However there are some good Conservative MPs.
Labour is the best hope we have for stopping Brexit. But, the current position is ambivalent at best. Not all Labour MPs are good.
I am not opposed to the social programme Labour had in its last election manifesto. I believe it is deliverable if we don’t Brexit. I don’t believe it is deliverable if we do Brexit.
I am not opposed to Corbyn. I don’t know what the truth is about his relationship with the IRA, Venezuelan and Cuban dictators, etc. Of the things that I do know about, his Brexit stance is not acceptable to me.
So, what of the local elections in May? These represent the most significant opportunity for the electorate to send a clear message to Labour that it needs to express a clear, unequivocal Remain position.
How can we do that? We must be clear & unequivocal ourselves. We must vote against pro-Brexit parties.
We must not vote Conservative. They’re irretrievably broken.
We must not vote Labour. This supports their, at best, ambivalent position.
We have to vote for pro-EU, anti-Brexit parties: Lib-Dems, Greens, etc.
Now, this could mean that we end up sacrificing local politics for a few years if the Conservatives win lots of local councils. But local politics is going to utterly sacrificed for generations if we Brexit.
The goal therefore is to make Labour choose a clear anti-Brexit position either between May 2018 & March 2019, or the next GE if it can be made to happen before March 2019.
We cannot make Labour choose this position if they do not lose significantly & understand why they lost.
They have to know that they have lost support as a result of their position. They have to understand that they will receive all that support if they change their position.
They have to understand that this is not a small local election protest effect. They have to fear massive GE losses if they don’t sort it out.
They need to understand what the will of the people actually is. They can’t understand this if we tell them that their current position is acceptable to us by voting for them in local elections because they’re not as shit as the Tories.
We need to be prepared to make a local election sacrifice if necessary, in order to send a clear message.
& you never know, your local election result might be that your pro-EU, anti-Brexit party candidate wins.
/end
