Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

How the TUC is doing Labour’s job for them in getting the EU vote out

Labour voters will prove crucial in determining the outcome of the EU referendum, which makes the party’s near silence on the issue all the more surprising. Whilst the Labour leadership maintain their reticence, however, the TUC has stepped in with a report out today. In it, the TUC warns that Brexit would cut pay by an average of £38 a week by 2030. Brexit will also send Britain into a ‘steep decline’, Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s General Secretary says. Given that the maths behind this hasn’t been published yet, it’s difficult to know how the figures were compiled. It’s also probably good to be sceptical of such an exact calculation on hypothetical scenarios. But nonetheless, the TUC’s report is likely to cut through in a way that similar figures put out by the Treasury just won’t for Labour party members. The TUC has some 5.8million members, and given how close the polls appear to be suggesting the referendum will be, that’s a portion of the electorate who could prove decisive in this contest.

Here’s what O’Grady had to say on Today:

‘What we’ve found is that workers on average could be £38 a week worse off in the long-run. The key issue here is the impact a Brexit would have on investment, trade and jobs. The TUC’s job is to look at what is in the best interest of workers. We have a responsibility to point out the real dangers of Brexit’.

A quick glance at the TUC’s website shows the organisation’s determination to echo the drumbeat of Treasury warnings about Brexit: pay will go down; jobs will be lost; workers’ rights will vanish. Whilst these warnings, coming from the TUC, aren’t necessarily surprising, what’s interesting is how the organisation is effectively doing Labour’s job for them. A YouGov poll out earlier this week indicated that 45 per cent of Labour supporters are unclear about the party’s position over Brexit. Many of those think that Corbyn’s party either backs Brexit or remains divided over the issue. For that, Corbyn can take much responsibility, with his few public interjections over the EU debate characterised by their lukewarmness. Take this Huffington Post blog, for example, in which he lists the EU’s perceived faults in the same breath he urges young people to stay in Europe:

‘We want Britain to remain in Europe – but also to reform the EU: strengthening workers’ rights, ending the grip of destructive austerity, supporting public enterprise and democratising its institutions.’

Labour can be thankful for the TUC’s role in helping get out their voters. But it’s indicative of the party’s position on Europe that this referendum rallying appears to come more loudly from an outside organisation than from many within the Labour leadership itself.

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