Jeremy Corbyn’s announcement that he wants to stay in a customs union with the EU may have stolen all the headlines this week. But what he said – or didn’t say – about the role of young voters fighting Brexit was just as revealing.
Buried in his milestone speech, Corbyn promised to oppose those who “want to sow divisions”. He then added a more specific plea of not “setting one generation against another”.
Most people would agree that Brexit’s divisiveness is exhausting. And after all, Corbyn has shifted to back a customs union! Who cares about intergenerational tiffs?
But this misses the point, and not just because remaining in the customs union won’t solve many of the fundamental problems of Brexit. In the subsequent Q&A session, Corbyn was asked specifically about a new group of young campaigners, Our Future Our Choice (OFOC!), of which I am a founding member. We are pushing for a referendum giving the final say on the Brexit terms back to the people. Could we change his mind?
Corbyn’s response (listen from 1:26) ignored the idea of age dynamics completely. “We are not proposing a second referendum”, he repeated. He applauded Keir Starmer for pushing for a meaningful vote in parliament on the final deal, but any reference to the young wanting something bolder remained conspicuously absent.
But the young should matter – not just to Brexit but to Corbyn’s stance specifically. We are the most unified voice in opposition to Brexit: 73% of us voted to remain. And yet we are set to be hit the hardest by the fallout from a decision we do not want.
The Labour leader has spent his life extolling the importance of listening to the young, of giving them a voice and making the world a better place for their future. What’s so different about Brexit?
The “youthquake” that has carried Corbyn this far is resoundingly pro-European. They also suffer from increasingly precarious employment, an impenetrable housing market and expensive university system. Many are aware Brexit will improve none of this.
So when Corbyn calls for generational unity in a Brexit which stands to be a pretty desperate inheritance deal, why should we be silent? The voice of young people is too often muted in favour of the “phoney jingoistic posturing” he so explicitly criticised in his speech.
To be sure, the youth vote is worth just as much as anybody else’s. We are not campaigning to disenfranchise anyone, and we wholeheartedly support British parliamentary democracy. The claims in recent weeks that we are a populist insurgency seeking to install a youth dictatorship and overthrow Brexit from within are not just comical, they are dangerous.
We reject the populist “us and them” mentality that has so far plagued the Brexit debate. But young people should not be silent for fear of upsetting other generations. Whatever unity Corbyn envisages, it will not come at the price of the young sacrificing their right to be heard on the most important issue of our time.
Want more InFacts?
Click here to get the newsletter
Edited by Luke Lythgoe
I always thought that Corbyn was someone who could not actually be trusted in government, This is due to his penchant to stick to his private set of ideals, rules and prejudices rather than giving the wishes of his voters a lot of thought. He should by now have given better insight in what he intends to do with the Brexit conundrum; so far he’s just as guilty of having cake and eating it dreams.
Given that young people are heavily pro-remain and Jeremy Corbyn’s euroscepticsm is very well established, I am predicting a massive swing to the Lib Dems
Sorry this article seems more anti Corbyn than pro EU.This is the Labour front bench position .Not soley Corbyns. Your article appears to be trying to sew age divisions
74 year old remainer.
Pro Europe is Anti Corbyn, that’s a simple fact, as he is supporting the ToryBrexit