It does appear that Labour`s leadership has realised, at last, that a hard, or even no deal, Brexit "won`t just be blamed on the Tories" (Disaster looms. Can MPs act quickly enough to save us? 12/01/19). The large number of Remain voters who voted Labour last time might not be too keen to replicate the act in the next general election, whilst Labour`s Leave-voting supporters will not be happy either with the Norway option, which includes large cash payments and "a commitment to free movement".
If the only solution is support for a second referendum Labour is right to be wary of the People`s Vote campaign appearing as "a Blairite shadow army". Just as few will ever forget the Tory nonsense about us "all being in it together", plenty of disgust was also registered with too moderate New Labour being "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich". The Labour leadership launching its own second referendum campaign, along the lines of "Labour for Democracy", could prove the answer, taking control of both the message and the messengers, and able to ensure Blair and co. were kept on the sidelines.
If Brexit were to be overturned, Labour could escape responsibility for free movement`s retention, and losing Leave supporters votes would not be guaranteed. I`m surprised no one has used this analogy to counter anti-democratic criticism and justify a second vote: imagine if a party won a general election by promising to cut all income tax rates by 10%, but after two years had failed to act on the election pledge. Everyone would demand another election immediately, and justifiably so. Hasn`t something similar happened here since 2016?
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