Since media hacks seem not to understand Labour’s policy on Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn has broken it down for them in the simplest of terms:
Secure a credible deal in three months.
Put it to the people for the final say, with the option to remain, in six months.
That’s our Brexit policy.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) November 5, 2019
Simple choice: “Thatcherism on steroids” or a Labour government ‘immediately carrying out’ the decision of a sensible public vote
Labour has made it clear that a Tory Brexit is not acceptable. And to expand on that position, a party press release stresses that:
Boris Johnson’s Conservatives want to hijack Brexit to sell out the NHS and sell out working people by stripping away their rights.
Given the chance, they’ll run down our rights at work our entitlements to holidays, breaks and leave.
Given the chance, they’ll slash food standards to US levels where “acceptable levels” of rat hairs in paprika and maggots in orange juice are allowed and they’ll put chlorinated chicken on our supermarket shelves.
And given the chance, they’ll water down the rules on air pollution and our environment that keep us safe. …
What Boris Johnson’s Conservatives want is to hijack Brexit to unleash Thatcherism on steroids.
For that reason, Labour has promised to “secure a sensible deal”. And it says:
That will take no longer than three months because the deal will be based on terms we’ve already discussed with the EU, including a new customs union, a close single market relationship and guarantees of rights and protections.
So if you want to leave the EU without trashing our economy or selling out our NHS you’ll be able to vote for it. If you want to remain in the EU, you’ll be able to vote for that. Either way, only a Labour government will put the final decision in your hands.
And we will immediately carry out your decision so Britain can get beyond Brexit.
One meme, meanwhile, summed Labour’s simple position up neatly:
https://twitter.com/cole_davesc66/status/1191696463006519296?s=20
Media. Does. Not. Compute.
Journalist Owen Jones summed up weak media efforts to make Labour’s Brexit policy seem complex and confusing:
Say what you like about it, but Labour's position of 'Let the people decide between Remain and a customs union Brexit' isn't complicated, and it takes a lot of effort to pretend it is. pic.twitter.com/RDln3MuVio
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) November 5, 2019
Twitter users also joined the mockery of media hacks:
Me: with my limited understand of anything and everything: wow this is a clear policy.
Politician journalists, commentators and experts: wHaT iS tHiS iNdEcIpHeRaBlE lAbOuR BrExIt PoLiCy?!?£& pic.twitter.com/HgUTeYwg1G
— Tez (@tezilyas) November 5, 2019
"But Mr Corbyn, this is so actually completely confusing?? I don't understand this policy? Why can you not be clearer than this? If I can't understand it, who will?" Will still say all the political pundits…
— Audrey (@AudreyMagel) November 5, 2019
Waiting for the MSM response. 1, 2, 3… pic.twitter.com/jTfDrBlbdI
— Prof Gayle Letherby (@gletherby) November 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/LeftoriumThe/status/1191688103469170690?s=20
And yet highly educated journalists and broadcasters can't understand this simple phrase. A cynic would think it was deliberate 🤔
— Simon the Cynical (@HillsideD) November 5, 2019
Boris Johnson has long been pushing for an unpopular, elitist no-deal (with the back-up of a hard-right Brexit deal) and Liberal Democrats have been promising to revoke Article 50, simply ignoring UK voters who opted to leave the EU. Labour, however, is trying to unite British people by letting them choose between a sensible Brexit deal or remaining in the EU. And in a country where around half of the population don’t feel strongly about either Leave or Remain, Corbyn has been trying to focus voters’ minds on his bold and exciting policies on the issues that most people really care about.
The corporate media might not get it. But the choice is simple.
Featured image via BBC
