George Eaton appears convinced that the referendum
campaign has "exacerbated" the "angst" of the Labour party, blaming Corbyn for
"not getting out of third gear", with the result that the immigration issue has
become "a nightmare" for them (Politics,17th June,2016). Eaton`s criticism is
substantiated by quoting Liam Byrne`s view that Labour is "the party of the
working class" and their job is to "address their concerns".
Some of this is correct, but Labour is not the
party of the white nationalist working class, and attempting to out-ukip the
Brexit camp, or emulate Miliband`s error by campaigning too closely with the
Tories (on the Scottish referendum) would be disastrous. It must be remembered
that there is so much dissatisfaction in Labour`s "working-class base" because
of governments` austerity policies, the stalling of the country`s economic
growth, the decline in real wages, and the failure to invest in sufficient
schools and hospitals. A largely biased press has allowed the bankers and others
responsible for the worst slump since the 1930s to escape blame-free, whilst
allowing immigrants to face culpability for the country`s ills.
Corbyn is right to oppose limiting the free
movement of EU workers; sacrificing the party`s long-held principles, in order
to appease the desire of little Englanders to put the "great" back in Britain,
would signal the end of the party as we know it, and ruin its chances of
election success
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