Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows roundup: Labour ‘forced’ into backing second referendum, says McDonnell

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John McDonnell – We’ve been forced into backing a second referendum

With less than four weeks to go until the UK is due to leave the European Union, Sophy Ridge was joined by the Shadow Chancellor. Labour has recently made headlines with its apparent volte-face on a second referendum. John McDonnell explained his party’s new Brexit position:

JM: We said we’d respect the referendum, but we also said we wouldn’t allow Theresa May to take us out of Europe with a reckless deal, and we would not support ‘no deal’… We’ve recognised actually, if we have to, to block no deal and to block a bad deal, we’ll have to go back to the people themselves… We’ve been forced into this by Theresa May running down the clock and not coming to a compromise that we can all support.

We will likely see a whip for the referendum

McDonnell did not confirm that the entire Labour frontbench would be mandated to vote for a second referendum. He told Ridge that it was likely that Labour MPs would be whipped to support the policy, but hinted that there may be some leniency for those who had made promises to their constituents:

JM: I think on an issue as this we would see a whip but also you’ve got to respect people’s views and their constituency interests as well, and the whipping arrangement will be determined in discussion in due course… [But] if we vote for something that will damage our long term future, I think people will look back and say ‘Where were you when we needed you?’

Labour ‘clearly’ has a problem with anti-Semitism

The interview turned to Labour’s fight against anti-Semitism, which has re-entered the spotlight after the defection of eight Labour MPs to join the new Independent Group in Parliament:

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SR: Does the Labour party have a problem with anti-Semitism?

JM: Clearly we do. These allegations that the Labour party is institutionally anti-Semitic I reject completely, but clearly we do, and we’ve accepted that… 0.1% of our membership seem to have been involved in some form of anti-Semitism. It’s a tiny number, but I do not want one anti-Semite in our party… Our party has got to be in the lead with others in eradicating it from our society.

Joan Ryan – The Labour party ‘is institutionally racist’

However, Joan Ryan, one of the former Labour MPs who have joined the Independent Group, later told Sky’s Kimberley Leonard that it was wrong to say that anti-Semitism could be eliminated under the current Labour leadership:

JR: Over three and a half years, that they have not managed to deal with this problem in any way that eradicates it, demonstrates that [Labour] is institutionally racist. They don’t understand the problem and they are not taking the measures needed to tackle it… The reason they’re not is that they don’t want to acknowledge it, and they can’t because it’s part and parcel of their politics.

Caroline Flint – Give us a free vote on an improved deal

Ridge also spoke to Caroline Flint, MP for the strongly Leave-backing constituency of Don Valley, about Labour’s second referendum shift. Flint was unhappy with the policy, arguing that the sudden change would not impress Leave voters in Labour constituencies:

CF: Labour’s position is still to seek an improved offer… It’s not about a Tory deal, it’s actually not about a Labour deal… My appeal to John McDonnell, to Jeremy Corbyn, to Keir Starmer is allow MPs to have a free vote on an improved deal, so those MPs that want a second referendum can vote for that, but those of us who want to keep our promises to our electorates can also keep faith with those people.

Liam Fox – I hope we can avoid Brexit delay

Andrew Marr interviewed the International Trade Secretary about the possibility that Brexit could be delayed beyond 29th March and asked Fox if the government was breaking its promise:

LF: It would be very unfortunate were that to happen, but if we have no option in order to deliver a smooth Brexit, then so be it…

AM: [You said] ‘If we were to delay, it would mean going back on our word’… And that is now what you are proposing.

LF: And I hope we can avoid that…  It’s up to those MPs who were elected on a promise to their voters to honour the referendum – in my view to do the honourable thing – and vote for the Prime Minister’s [withdrawal] agreement.

I will take ERG’s plans as an olive branch 

Responding to three Brexit ‘tests’ issued by the European Research Group this morning, aimed at finding a route out of the controversial Irish backstop, Fox said that he would look at the proposals in the spirit in which they appeared to be offered, despite the EU’s unwillingness to make concessions in this area:

LF: I think they’ve made it very clear that if the effect of any change is to give the guarantees on the Irish backstop that they sought, then that would be sufficient, rather than them demanding it has to be done by one mechanism or another…

AM: …It’s a big olive branch with which they’re going to hit you over the head.

LF: Well, I hope it’s a genuine attempt – and I think it is – to try to map out ground where we can have common territory in the run up to the vote before the 12th of March.

Trade agreements will go ‘right up to the wire’

Fox dismissed figures leaked from the Department of International Trade which purported to show that, in the latter stage of the Brexit negotiations, only 6 of the UK’s 37 current trade agreements were ‘on track’ to be rolled over from EU membership, with as many as 19 thought to be ‘significantly off track’ and 4 thought to be ‘not possible’. He insisted that much more progress had been made since the leak:

AM: Are those figures broadly speaking right? Or broadly speaking wrong?

LF: They are out of date. A number of agreements are very close. The point is this – a lot of countries are waiting to see what we do in the next couple of weeks. If there is going to be no deal, a lot of those countries will be willing to sign what we have agreed with them now… but if they want to have flexibility [during] the implementation period, they will play their cards close to their chest. This will be something that runs right up to the wire.

Tony Blair – ‘I am staying in the Labour party’

And finally, Marr spoke to Tony Blair, whose name has strongly linked to the breakaway Independent Group over the past two weeks. Blair said that contrary to the rumours, and despite being ‘in touch’ with the Group, he was staying with Labour despite his concerns:

TB: In the end, it’s a question of ‘Is it possible to bring the Labour party back?’… I am staying in the Labour party. Am I deeply concerned about the Labour party’s direction, it’s policy? Yes, I am… because if you want to get back to winning ways, this is not the position to be in.

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