Corbyn’s ambiguous EU stance could be his strength
Jonathan Lindsell, 28 July 2015
Ever since David Cameron promised an EU referendum in 2013 there has been pressure on Labour to do the same. At times Ed Balls seemed supportive but former leader Ed Miliband always rejected Cameron’s EU position, hoping that Ukip was only a problem for the right.
Labour lost the election and did indeed lose many voters to Ukip, while centrist voters may have been swayed by the Conservatives’ tougher lines on immigration and EU reform. However two of the current leadership candidates, Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper, have essentially replicated Miliband’s position wholesale, while Liz Kendall echoes the Conservatives’ migration rhetoric but also their overall pro-EU position.
It is only Jeremy Corbyn, the most leftwing candidate who joined the ballot when MPs lent him votes to broaden the debate, who might reject this orthodoxy. Corbyn worked on EU-sceptic Tony Benn’s unsuccessful campaign to become Labour’s deputy leader in 1981 and first won his Islington North seat in 1983 when the party was staunchly EU-sceptic. Last year he criticised TTIP in the Morning Star.
Corbyn’s headline policies clash with EU law. He wants to renationalise the railways – a policy popular among all parties’ voters – but which could well fall foul of EU competition regulation. The story is similar for his goal to bring energy utilities under public ownership. A freeze on energy bills was one of Miliband’s most popular policies despite accusation of being anti-market. Were Corbyn to become prime minister he would face two issues, EU competition law as above, and the basic fact that much of our energy infrastructure is currently French.
The largest symbolic clash would be over economic policy. Corbyn, now leading polls, has set himself apart from the other candidates by his fierce opposition to austerity. The EU cannot impose austerity on the UK as it did in Ireland, Spain, Cyprus and Greece, but an Obama-style stimulus would draw fire from continental politicians.
When asked in recent hustings if he’d refuse to campaign for Out in the EU referendum, he demurred. ‘No I wouldn’t rule it out… Cameron quite clearly follows an agenda which is about trading away workers’ rights, is about trading away environmental protection, is about trading away much of what is in the social chapter.’ He then attacked the EU’s record on tax havens and evasion. He clarified that he would favour reformed EU membership, dependent on Cameron’s final offer.
This implies danger for Cameron’s renegotiation strategy. With his hand forced by his own backbenchers and Ukip, the EU settlement he’s pursuing has a distinctly centre-right flavour. Cameron might succeed in Brussels only to find himself losing the referendum itself because he had ejected Britain from precisely the policies that keep Labour pro-EU. By stripping the EU to a purely free market vehicle, Cameron would be making Corbyn’s criticisms of the EU more accurate.