The Liberal Democrats may push Labour into third spot in next week’s European Parliament elections because of Jeremy Corbyn’s mealy-mouthed Brexit stance. Hopefully, he will learn that it’s bad to sit on the fence – and not repeat the error if there’s a general election later this year.
A new poll out today puts the Lib Dems ahead of Labour. Vince Cable’s “Bollocks to Brexit” slogan is winning over pro-European voters. So is the Green Party’s clear position that it wants a People’s Vote. Meanwhile, Corbyn’s wishy-washy policy that tries to be all things to all people is losing him votes.
The Lib Dems are on 16% compared to Labour’s 15%, according to YouGov. The Greens are on 10%, just ahead of the Tories.
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is way out ahead on 35%. There is, sadly, nothing that can now be done to stop it coming first. Corbyn would have had a good chance of doing so if he had come out unequivocally for a People’s Vote in his manifesto. But he didn’t. The best chance now of closing the gap on Farage is if more Labour voters switch to the Lib Dems.
Corbyn has fudged his Brexit policy because he hopes to appeal to both Remain and Leave voters. But this isn’t working. He is losing votes to both pro-European parties and Brexit ones. What’s more, it is the anti-Brexit voters who are deserting in the largest numbers – three times as many are switching to pro-European parties as are going to pro-Brexit ones, according to a separate analysis of YouGov data.
This is not to say that Labour has been useless. Corbyn has twice whipped in favour of a People’s Vote – and he may well do so again.
But Theresa May has promised to set a date for her departure as prime minister; Boris Johnson is in pole position to succeed her; and this is likely to trigger a general election. Labour must not go into such a contest with a fudged position on Brexit.
All the more reason for pro-Europeans to deny Corbyn their votes on May 23. They should instead back one of the parties that unequivocally supports a People’s Vote – the Lib Dems, Greens or Change UK (or SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales).
