What is the Labour
Party for? That is the question raised by the latest twist in the European
Union referendum saga. Accepting that he cannot hope to sway working-class,
Left-leaning voters to the Remain cause, David Cameron has ceded the political
spotlight to Labour campaigners this week. Yet whether the Labour Party is any
better
able to inspire and organise such people than the Conservative leader
remains to be seen. The first day of the Labour charm offensive, led by Gordon
Brown, certainly gives cause for doubt.
Mr Brown appears to
believe that Brexit can be prevented by repeating the tactics that secured the
Union in the Scottish independence referendum, and has devised a list of EU
reforms he suggests could win around doubting voters. Yet there are many
crucial differences. When political leaders at Westminster issued a “Vow” to
devolve more power to Scotland, they were promising something in their gift. No
British politician can sincerely promise real EU reform; it must be granted in
Brussels, and Mr Cameron has proven how hard that is to deliver.
More telling was
what Mr Brown did not say. The former prime minister sought to avoid discussing
immigration, the issue that has done more than any other to turn Labour’s
traditional supporters against the party and against the EU. Arguably, that makes
Mr Brown the worst possible person to try to win such voters back. He was the
chancellor who was content to open Britain’s borders to eastern Europeans and
reap the economic dividend, while being utterly unwilling to debate the social
consequences of that policy, much less seek the consent of the electorate for
it. And as prime minister, he epitomised his party’s scorn for the legitimate
concerns of its own voters when he dismissed Gillian Duffy of Rochdale as
“bigoted”.
It is surely not
coincidence that many such voters, once loyal to Labour, have flirted with Ukip
and are now said to be prepared to back Brexit. They know what many Labour
politicians refuse to admit, that EU membership means continuing with an
immigration policy that allows hundreds of thousands of people to come and work
in Britain and use its public services every year. Labour leaders have recently complained that
to much of the referendum debate has been focused on the Conservative Party’s
internal troubles over the European issue. Perhaps they ought to be grateful,
for the referendum is revealing that their party has far more serious problems
to deal with.
