‘Our position on Brexit has failed’: MPs react to early election results
Jess Phillips
I'm off to bed as have to be up at 7am to do the school run. My final word is that I think our position on Brexit has failed. Bravery is needed. If you combine kindness and effectiveness with a bit of grit most people will respect you even when they don't always agree.
Wes Streeting MP Results from places like Liverpool and Sunderland - a Remain city and a Leave town - surely demonstrate that looking both ways on Brexit isn’t doing Labour any good.
Mike Gapes Early p results of local elections indicate big moves away from both Conservatives and Corbyn Labour. Another indication that Corbyn Labour is unable to capitalise on the incompetent dysfunctional Conservative Government. Politics is broken it is time to #ChangeUK @TheIndGroup
No question that its down to the hard work of activists across the country - proud to see so many local teams get the results they deserve.
Voters are rejecting both Lab and Cons and demanding better!
One point of satisfaction for the party also came in the fact that leading Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg now has a Liberal Democrat councillor representing him in Somerset.
Congratulations to Cllr Dave Wood, who moments ago beat B&NES council leader Tim Warren. He's now @Jacob_Rees_Mogg's local councillor! The start of a very good night in Bath! #LocalElections2019
Brexit backlash a mere blip compared to what is coming for main parties
On a night of town hall turmoil in the local elections, broadly speaking Labour have done badly in the pro-Brexit north of England and better in the pro-Remain south. For the Tories it's the opposite; struggling in the south and yet embarrassing Labour in its northern heartlands. The Lib Dems have gained some spectacular scalps and independents are on the march. The two big parties wanted these elections to be about bins, not Brexit. Fat chance. Brexit has dominated and polarised UK politics for three years and threatens to continue to do so for years to come.
Jeremy Corbyn's Labour critics will claim their party's results are dire, considering these are mid-term elections after nine years of a Tory government, the Conservatives are in a state of civil war over Europe and ****-bent on removing their leader.
Yet at the same time, Theresa May's enemies in the Tory party - in parliament and in local Conservative associations - will claim vindication of their campaign to oust her. One outcome of these results, however, is that the leadership of both big parties are likely to be more determined than ever to come to a deal to bring the slow torture of Brexit to an end as swiftly as possible. Good luck with that, though. While wise heads on both sides will want to come to a deal on Brexit, there are irreconcilables, malcontents and mavericks who will do everything they can to sabotage moves to reach a consensus between government and opposition.
Mrs May, who is addressing both the Welsh and Scottish Tory conferences while some of the later results are still coming in, will claim the results are a warning to the politicians at Westminster to deliver Brexit without further delay. That was certainly the message from many of the distraught Tory council leaders dumped by voters in the Brexit backlash. Mr Corbyn and his inner circle of Brexiteers, who are firmly opposed to the calls from Labour Remainers for a second referendum, will claim the results justify the Labour leader's ambiguous Brexit policy. Really? That's not what many Labour MPs and their defeated council leaders are saying. Also, many pro-Leave voters would be perfectly happy to leave the EU with no deal. And to most Labour voters, Leave and Remain, Mr Corbyn's nuanced policy of campaigning for a second referendum as a last resort looks muddled and indecisive.
Labour suffered bad results in Brexit strongholds like Sunderland, Hartlepool, Wirral and Barnsley, yet had a good result in Trafford, Greater Manchester, where the Tories' 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady is an MP. Some Labour council leaders told Sky News the party's working class voters stayed at home, yet turnout wasn't particularly low for local elections. Perhaps the most startling Brexit backlash came in the Tories' disastrous result in North East Somerset, where Leave cheerleader Jacob Rees-Mogg is MP. The Tories also suffered losses to the Lib Dems in Sir John Redwood's Wokingham and lost control in St Albans, Southend and Peterborough and were ousted by the Lib Dems in Winchester. Politicians like to claim that disappointing results mid-term mean nothing in terms of the next general election. Yet these results confirm the suspicions of many MPs that the next general election, whenever it comes, will result in another hung parliament.
Parliament elections on 23 May. Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party are on the rampage and already ahead in the polls. Remember, they weren't standing in these town hall elections. Labour and the Tories have already got the jitters about the Farage surge. Both parties would prefer the Euro elections weren't happening. But they are, so there's no point moaning. The Brexit backlash in these local elections is a mere blip compared with what's coming on 23 May. And indeed in the Peterborough by-election on 6 June, when Mr Farage's Brexit Party will be standing. A terrible set of results for the Tories now and over the next month will almost accelerate a Mrs May departure from Downing Street. The calls from Tory MPs and council leaders for her to quit now were already growing reaching a crescendo in the early hours.
But Mr Corbyn can't afford to be smug after these local election results. There's a grim warning for Labour here as well. The voters have spoken. Some obviously don't want Brexit. The rest are saying: Fix it, or you'll pay a heavy price. In the town halls, Labour and the Conservatives already have.
Tony Robinson quits Labour after 45 years over ‘complete s***’ Corbyn
Television star Tony Robinson has left the Labour Party, citing the party’s policy on Brexit and its leadership’s handling of the antisemitism crisis. The actor, best known as Blackadder‘s Baldrick, who once sat on the party’s national executive committee (NEC), said Jeremy Corbyn had been “complete s***” as leader. “I’ve left the Labour Party after nearly 45 years of service at branch, constituency and NEC levels, partly because of its continued duplicity on Brexit, partly because of its antisemitism, but also because its leadership is complete s***,” he said in a tweet on Friday afternoon.
The local election results in England make the lead for most papers. The Telegraph says voters delivered a two-fingered salute to the main parties. For the Politico website, this was the ultimate protest vote - and shows that things are far from business as usual. The Express says voters vented their anger at the ballot box and sent one clear demand to politicians - deliver Brexit. "So NOW will they listen?" the Mail's headline asks. According to the paper, returning officers reported that at least 30,000 ballot papers were spoiled with scrawled messages about Brexit in protest at the parliamentary "shambles". The Financial Times says the joint conclusion by Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn - that the results showed voters wanted Brexit delivered - was controversial, given that the biggest winners were parties that wanted to stop Brexit. But the Express tells its readers not to be fooled by the gains of the Liberal Democrats. They have simply taken their traditional role for protest votes, it says - the Brexit Party had no candidates so this was not a sudden conversion to Remain. According to the Times, Theresa May will be told by senior Tories next week that she must set a date for her departure. The paper says the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, Sir Graham Brady, will meet the prime minister on Tuesday. The Telegraph and the Sun renew their calls for Mrs May to step down. In the Sun's view, the Conservatives are demoralised, exhausted and staring into the abyss - and only a charismatic new leader can focus minds on the party's successes and convince Britain it is worth voting for.
Corbyn’s friends in Momentum could end their joint left-wing slate at future NEC elections with Corbyn’s old allies in the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy Corbyn’s attempt to play the electorate over Brexit has backfired. Now neither side needs Labour to get what they want There are growing signs of disillusionment among Corbyn’s natural supporters over Brexit. And the party's NEC decision to reject a Final Say referendum will inevitably push voters over the edge
“People are starting to think about life after Jeremy,” said one Corbyn loyalist. It is a process that will gather pace now that Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) has rejected grassroots calls for the party to support a Final Say referendum on any Brexit deal. Corbyn now risks alienating the very members who ensured his 2015 victory.
Labour will merely keep open “the option” of a public vote if May refuses to change her deal, to prevent a no-deal exit or if Labour fails to secure an election. Corbyn’s “constructive ambiguity” allows him to be all things to all people. He can reassure Leave voters in the north and midlands that Labour respects the 2016 referendum decision. He can nod and wink to Remainers that a Final Say vote has been put “on the table”, though it is difficult to imagine the circumstances in which Labour would ever eat it. Corbyn is prepared to risk a hit from Remainers at this month’s European parliament elections in an attempt to enhance his appeal to Leave voters at a general election. But his electoral logic is open to question. Public opinion has not been frozen since 2016. The polls now average 54 per cent for Remain and 46 per cent for Leave. Anxiety about immigration has fallen.
Even in Leave seats, a majority of Labour voters backed Remain. The British Election Study found no marked difference between 2015 Labour voters generally (63 per cent backed Remain a year later) and in the north (57 per cent) or midlands (60 per cent). Rob Ford, a professor of politics at Manchester University, warns that Labour could alienate Remainers by wooing Leavers, who might not be won over because the party supports a customs union. He points out that Brexit is not the only issue motivating voters. “If it was, then May would have won a lot more Leave-voting Labour seats in June 2017,” he said. Several Labour MPs representing Leave constituencies in the north reject its caricature as “Brexitland”, insisting opinion has shifted and that the regions now support a referendum.
Corbyn cannot assume that Remainers who backed Labour at the 2017 election will stomach his refusal to give a clear-cut pledge of a referendum. On 23 May, these voters will have somewhere else to go: the Liberal Democrats, Change UK, the Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru. Alastair Campbell, tribally loyal to Labour, told the BBC’s Politics Live programme yesterday he did not know whether he could vote Labour because of its referendum stance. He will not be alone. If a general election were dominated by Brexit, such voters might not come home to Labour. Corbyn is also storing up problems for himself. Ironically, given his allies’ default position of dismissing all critics as “Blairites”, his office uses the Blair “command and control” playbook to stifle Labour grassroots demands for a referendum.
There was a time when Corbyn, having promised his party’s members greater say over policy, favoured e-ballots of the membership. He would not dare to call one on Brexit: it would show overwhelming support for a Final Say referendum and Remain.
In a timely new book about Labour, Protest and Power, David Kogan warns: “If Jeremy Corbyn suddenly appears to be an old-style Labour leader by failing to listen to the membership, taking advice from a small coterie of advisers and using the power politics of yesteryear, the danger is that the wide support he gathered in 2015 and 2016 from new, young members of the party will suddenly disappear.” Indeed, there are growing signs of disillusionment among Corbyn’s natural supporters over Brexit. Its pro-EU wing, which mobilised itself under the slogan “Love Corbyn, hate Brexit,” has spawned a new group of Labour MPs: “Love Socialism, Hate Brexit.” There are other straws in the wind. Many in his Momentum fanclub part company on Europe, including its national director Laura Parker. After all nine constituency party representatives toed the Corbyn line at yesterday’s NEC meeting, there is now talk that his new friends in Momentum could end their joint left-wing slate at future NEC elections with his old allies in the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.
This matters. If it happened, the Corbyn-McDonnell project would have failed in one of its central aims: achieving what Blair did not, by using their period of dominance to cement control of the party.
Voters are punishing Labour for its Brexit ‘fudge’, angry MPs warn Corbyn after shock election losses Big swings from Labour to pro-EU Liberal Democrats and Greens prove need to guarantee new referendum, Labour leader told – but he insists ‘a deal has to be done’
Voters are punishing Labour for its Brexit “fudge”, angry MPs have warned Jeremy Corbyn, after the party was the shock loser from the local elections – urging him to finally guarantee a fresh referendum. A disastrous night for both big parties saw the Conservatives lose more than 1,200 seats and fresh calls for Theresa May to quit, including from a Tory heckler in Wales, who demanded to know: “Why don’t you go?”
As the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates surged, little more than half of the public backed the Conservatives or Labour – who were tied on just 28 per cent of votes each.
“Nye Bevan said it: people who sit in the middle of the road get run over. That is what happened to Labour last night,” said David Lammy, a Labour MP in London.
“We fudged and hedged on a people’s vote, hoping we could string voters along, but the bluff has been called.” Phil Wilson, a northeast MP, said: “The lesson for Labour is don’t sit on the fence. Show leadership and support a confirmatory ballot
Margaret Hodge, another London MP, tweeted: “Election Lesson 1: if you don’t give people something to vote for then they will not vote for you.” And Owen Smith, a Wales MP and former leadership contender, said: “Our reward for bailing the Tories out on Brexit was to share the losses with them – to Lib Dems, Greens and others who are clear that they oppose Brexit.”
The comment followed an extraordinary TV claim by Barry Gardiner, the shadow business secretary, that Labour was “trying to bail out” the Tories in order to deliver Brexit.
There's widespread coverage of Theresa May's message to Jeremy Corbyn that it's time to "do a deal" on Brexit. Her appeal to "come together in the national interest" and compromise to "get Brexit over the line" is made in a piece in the Mail On Sunday. The Sunday Express suggests Brexiteer MPs have condemned the idea of such a deal as a "stitch-up" and a "betrayal" - and promise to oppose it in Parliament. The Observer agrees that the plan looks "doomed" and speak of both party leaders facing "mounting revolts from their own MPs and activists", with 104 opposition members said to have written to them to demand a guarantee that any deal would be subject to a confirmatory referendum.
Writing in the Sun On Sunday, the former Brexit Secretary, David Davis, cautions the prime minister against making a "pact with the devil" to "simply to wish the problem of Brexit away". He warns that failing to respect the Brexit vote, following the "clear message" sent by the local election results, would be "suicidal" for the Conservatives. The chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, is equally concerned in the Sunday Telegraph: "The temptation to do whatever is necessary to secure some kind of Brexit agreement...must be resisted" he argues. He adds: "The price could be a catastrophic split in the Conservative party." The former Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, hits back in the Sunday Express following his sacking over claims he leaked top-secret information. He tells the paper that suggestions he revealed details of the government's future dealings with the Chinese tech giant Huawei were part of a "slapdash witch-hunt" triggered by "political score settling"
He insists he's "getting hanged for something" he didn't do, saying he would have welcomed a criminal investigation to clear his name.
Shami Chakrabarti has BBC audience SNIGGERING as she tries to explain Labour Brexit stance SHAMI CHAKRABARTI had members of the audience of BBC show Any Questions? sniggering as she tried to clarify the Labour Party's current position on Brexit and the possibility of a second referendum.
Channel 4 host SAVAGES Tory and Labour MPs on Brexit - ’You are BOTH intransigent!’ TORY MP Damien Hinds and Labour MP Emily Thornberry were grilled by a Channel 4 News host for their parties' continuous Brexit failures as both were accused of being “intransigent”.
Williamson fired ‘for attacking May over diabetes’ Gavin Williamson was sacked as defence secretary after Theresa May was informed that he had attacked her in private, saying that her diabetes made her unfit to be prime minister. May became frustrated with Williamson’s behaviour after hearing that he told fellow Tories that her health meant she should not continue..
Local election results show there’s more impetus than ever for a second referendum Labour and the Tories haven’t got much to look forward to in the European elections next month
Comments
Jess Phillips
I'm off to bed as have to be up at 7am to do the school run. My final word is that I think our position on Brexit has failed. Bravery is needed. If you combine kindness and effectiveness with a bit of grit most people will respect you even when they don't always agree.
Wes Streeting MP
Results from places like Liverpool and Sunderland - a Remain city and a Leave town - surely demonstrate that looking both ways on Brexit isn’t doing Labour any good.
Mike Gapes
Early p results of local elections indicate big moves away from both Conservatives and Corbyn Labour. Another indication that Corbyn Labour is unable to capitalise on the incompetent dysfunctional Conservative Government. Politics is broken it is time to #ChangeUK @TheIndGroup
@EdwardJDavey
@LibDems are having a great night!
No question that its down to the hard work of activists across the country - proud to see so many local teams get the results they deserve.
Voters are rejecting both Lab and Cons and demanding better!
One point of satisfaction for the party also came in the fact that leading Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg now has a Liberal Democrat councillor representing him in Somerset.
Wera Hobhouse MP
@Wera_Hobhouse
Congratulations to Cllr Dave Wood, who moments ago beat B&NES council leader Tim Warren. He's now @Jacob_Rees_Mogg's local councillor! The start of a very good night in Bath! #LocalElections2019
Laura Kuenssberg
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Tories have lost Tandridge in Surrey - have held the council since 2000
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/our-position-on-brexit-has-failed-mps-react-to-early-election-results/ar-AAAQddB?ocid=spartanntp
On a night of town hall turmoil in the local elections, broadly speaking Labour have done badly in the pro-Brexit north of England and better in the pro-Remain south.
For the Tories it's the opposite; struggling in the south and yet embarrassing Labour in its northern heartlands. The Lib Dems have gained some spectacular scalps and independents are on the march.
The two big parties wanted these elections to be about bins, not Brexit. Fat chance. Brexit has dominated and polarised UK politics for three years and threatens to continue to do so for years to come.
Jeremy Corbyn's Labour critics will claim their party's results are dire, considering these are mid-term elections after nine years of a Tory government, the Conservatives are in a state of civil war over Europe and ****-bent on removing their leader.
Yet at the same time, Theresa May's enemies in the Tory party - in parliament and in local Conservative associations - will claim vindication of their campaign to oust her.
One outcome of these results, however, is that the leadership of both big parties are likely to be more determined than ever to come to a deal to bring the slow torture of Brexit to an end as swiftly as possible.
Good luck with that, though. While wise heads on both sides will want to come to a deal on Brexit, there are irreconcilables, malcontents and mavericks who will do everything they can to sabotage moves to reach a consensus between government and opposition.
Mrs May, who is addressing both the Welsh and Scottish Tory conferences while some of the later results are still coming in, will claim the results are a warning to the politicians at Westminster to deliver Brexit without further delay. That was certainly the message from many of the distraught Tory council leaders dumped by voters in the Brexit backlash.
Mr Corbyn and his inner circle of Brexiteers, who are firmly opposed to the calls from Labour Remainers for a second referendum, will claim the results justify the Labour leader's ambiguous Brexit policy.
Really? That's not what many Labour MPs and their defeated council leaders are saying. Also, many pro-Leave voters would be perfectly happy to leave the EU with no deal.
And to most Labour voters, Leave and Remain, Mr Corbyn's nuanced policy of campaigning for a second referendum as a last resort looks muddled and indecisive.
Labour suffered bad results in Brexit strongholds like Sunderland, Hartlepool, Wirral and Barnsley, yet had a good result in Trafford, Greater Manchester, where the Tories' 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady is an MP.
Some Labour council leaders told Sky News the party's working class voters stayed at home, yet turnout wasn't particularly low for local elections.
Perhaps the most startling Brexit backlash came in the Tories' disastrous result in North East Somerset, where Leave cheerleader Jacob Rees-Mogg is MP.
The Tories also suffered losses to the Lib Dems in Sir John Redwood's Wokingham and lost control in St Albans, Southend and Peterborough and were ousted by the Lib Dems in Winchester.
Politicians like to claim that disappointing results mid-term mean nothing in terms of the next general election. Yet these results confirm the suspicions of many MPs that the next general election, whenever it comes, will result in another hung parliament.
Parliament elections on 23 May. Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party are on the rampage and already ahead in the polls. Remember, they weren't standing in these town hall elections.
Labour and the Tories have already got the jitters about the Farage surge. Both parties would prefer the Euro elections weren't happening. But they are, so there's no point moaning.
The Brexit backlash in these local elections is a mere blip compared with what's coming on 23 May. And indeed in the Peterborough by-election on 6 June, when Mr Farage's Brexit Party will be standing.
A terrible set of results for the Tories now and over the next month will almost accelerate a Mrs May departure from Downing Street. The calls from Tory MPs and council leaders for her to quit now were already growing reaching a crescendo in the early hours.
But Mr Corbyn can't afford to be smug after these local election results. There's a grim warning for Labour here as well.
The voters have spoken. Some obviously don't want Brexit. The rest are saying: Fix it, or you'll pay a heavy price. In the town halls, Labour and the Conservatives already have.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/brexit-backlash-a-mere-blip-compared-to-what-is-coming-for-main-parties/ar-AAAQds5?ocid=spartanntp
Television star Tony Robinson has left the Labour Party, citing the party’s policy on Brexit and its leadership’s handling of the antisemitism crisis.
The actor, best known as Blackadder‘s Baldrick, who once sat on the party’s national executive committee (NEC), said Jeremy Corbyn had been “complete s***” as leader.
“I’ve left the Labour Party after nearly 45 years of service at branch, constituency and NEC levels, partly because of its continued duplicity on Brexit, partly because of its antisemitism, but also because its leadership is complete s***,” he said in a tweet on Friday afternoon.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/politics/tony-robinson-quits-labour-after-45-years-over-complete-s-corbyn/ar-AAAQZi7?ocid=spartanntp
The local election results in England make the lead for most papers.
The Telegraph says voters delivered a two-fingered salute to the main parties. For the Politico website, this was the ultimate protest vote - and shows that things are far from business as usual.
The Express says voters vented their anger at the ballot box and sent one clear demand to politicians - deliver Brexit.
"So NOW will they listen?" the Mail's headline asks. According to the paper, returning officers reported that at least 30,000 ballot papers were spoiled with scrawled messages about Brexit in protest at the parliamentary "shambles".
The Financial Times says the joint conclusion by Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn - that the results showed voters wanted Brexit delivered - was controversial, given that the biggest winners were parties that wanted to stop Brexit.
But the Express tells its readers not to be fooled by the gains of the Liberal Democrats.
They have simply taken their traditional role for protest votes, it says - the Brexit Party had no candidates so this was not a sudden conversion to Remain.
According to the Times, Theresa May will be told by senior Tories next week that she must set a date for her departure.
The paper says the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, Sir Graham Brady, will meet the prime minister on Tuesday.
The Telegraph and the Sun renew their calls for Mrs May to step down.
In the Sun's view, the Conservatives are demoralised, exhausted and staring into the abyss - and only a charismatic new leader can focus minds on the party's successes and convince Britain it is worth voting for.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-48157975
Corbyn’s attempt to play the electorate over Brexit has backfired. Now neither side needs Labour to get what they want
There are growing signs of disillusionment among Corbyn’s natural supporters over Brexit. And the party's NEC decision to reject a Final Say referendum will inevitably push voters over the edge
“People are starting to think about life after Jeremy,” said one Corbyn loyalist. It is a process that will gather pace now that Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) has rejected grassroots calls for the party to support a Final Say referendum on any Brexit deal. Corbyn now risks alienating the very members who ensured his 2015 victory.
Labour will merely keep open “the option” of a public vote if May refuses to change her deal, to prevent a no-deal exit or if Labour fails to secure an election. Corbyn’s “constructive ambiguity” allows him to be all things to all people. He can reassure Leave voters in the north and midlands that Labour respects the 2016 referendum decision. He can nod and wink to Remainers that a Final Say vote has been put “on the table”, though it is difficult to imagine the circumstances in which Labour would ever eat it.
Corbyn is prepared to risk a hit from Remainers at this month’s European parliament elections in an attempt to enhance his appeal to Leave voters at a general election. But his electoral logic is open to question. Public opinion has not been frozen since 2016. The polls now average 54 per cent for Remain and 46 per cent for Leave. Anxiety about immigration has fallen.
Even in Leave seats, a majority of Labour voters backed Remain. The British Election Study found no marked difference between 2015 Labour voters generally (63 per cent backed Remain a year later) and in the north (57 per cent) or midlands (60 per cent). Rob Ford, a professor of politics at Manchester University, warns that Labour could alienate Remainers by wooing Leavers, who might not be won over because the party supports a customs union.
He points out that Brexit is not the only issue motivating voters. “If it was, then May would have won a lot more Leave-voting Labour seats in June 2017,” he said. Several Labour MPs representing Leave constituencies in the north reject its caricature as “Brexitland”, insisting opinion has shifted and that the regions now support a referendum.
Corbyn cannot assume that Remainers who backed Labour at the 2017 election will stomach his refusal to give a clear-cut pledge of a referendum. On 23 May, these voters will have somewhere else to go: the Liberal Democrats, Change UK, the Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru. Alastair Campbell, tribally loyal to Labour, told the BBC’s Politics Live programme yesterday he did not know whether he could vote Labour because of its referendum stance. He will not be alone. If a general election were dominated by Brexit, such voters might not come home to Labour.
Corbyn is also storing up problems for himself. Ironically, given his allies’ default position of dismissing all critics as “Blairites”, his office uses the Blair “command and control” playbook to stifle Labour grassroots demands for a referendum.
There was a time when Corbyn, having promised his party’s members greater say over policy, favoured e-ballots of the membership. He would not dare to call one on Brexit: it would show overwhelming support for a Final Say referendum and Remain.
In a timely new book about Labour, Protest and Power, David Kogan warns: “If Jeremy Corbyn suddenly appears to be an old-style Labour leader by failing to listen to the membership, taking advice from a small coterie of advisers and using the power politics of yesteryear, the danger is that the wide support he gathered in 2015 and 2016 from new, young members of the party will suddenly disappear.”
Indeed, there are growing signs of disillusionment among Corbyn’s natural supporters over Brexit. Its pro-EU wing, which mobilised itself under the slogan “Love Corbyn, hate Brexit,” has spawned a new group of Labour MPs: “Love Socialism, Hate Brexit.” There are other straws in the wind. Many in his Momentum fanclub part company on Europe, including its national director Laura Parker.
After all nine constituency party representatives toed the Corbyn line at yesterday’s NEC meeting, there is now talk that his new friends in Momentum could end their joint left-wing slate at future NEC elections with his old allies in the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.
This matters. If it happened, the Corbyn-McDonnell project would have failed in one of its central aims: achieving what Blair did not, by using their period of dominance to cement control of the party.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-jeremy-corbyn-labour-nec-second-referendum-brexiteer-remain-a8894441.html
Big swings from Labour to pro-EU Liberal Democrats and Greens prove need to guarantee new referendum, Labour leader told – but he insists ‘a deal has to be done’
Voters are punishing Labour for its Brexit “fudge”, angry MPs have warned Jeremy Corbyn, after the party was the shock loser from the local elections – urging him to finally guarantee a fresh referendum.
A disastrous night for both big parties saw the Conservatives lose more than 1,200 seats and fresh calls for Theresa May to quit, including from a Tory heckler in Wales, who demanded to know: “Why don’t you go?”
As the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates surged, little more than half of the public backed the Conservatives or Labour – who were tied on just 28 per cent of votes each.
“Nye Bevan said it: people who sit in the middle of the road get run over. That is what happened to Labour last night,” said David Lammy, a Labour MP in London.
“We fudged and hedged on a people’s vote, hoping we could string voters along, but the bluff has been called.”
Phil Wilson, a northeast MP, said: “The lesson for Labour is don’t sit on the fence. Show leadership and support a confirmatory ballot
Margaret Hodge, another London MP, tweeted: “Election Lesson 1: if you don’t give people something to vote for then they will not vote for you.”
And Owen Smith, a Wales MP and former leadership contender, said: “Our reward for bailing the Tories out on Brexit was to share the losses with them – to Lib Dems, Greens and others who are clear that they oppose Brexit.”
The comment followed an extraordinary TV claim by Barry Gardiner, the shadow business secretary, that Labour was “trying to bail out” the Tories in order to deliver Brexit.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/latest-corbyn-labour-mps-brexit-referendum-final-say-local-elections-losses-a8898676.html
There's widespread coverage of Theresa May's message to Jeremy Corbyn that it's time to "do a deal" on Brexit.
Her appeal to "come together in the national interest" and compromise to "get Brexit over the line" is made in a piece in the Mail On Sunday.
The Sunday Express suggests Brexiteer MPs have condemned the idea of such a deal as a "stitch-up" and a "betrayal" - and promise to oppose it in Parliament.
The Observer agrees that the plan looks "doomed" and speak of both party leaders facing "mounting revolts from their own MPs and activists", with 104 opposition members said to have written to them to demand a guarantee that any deal would be subject to a confirmatory referendum.
Writing in the Sun On Sunday, the former Brexit Secretary, David Davis, cautions the prime minister against making a "pact with the devil" to "simply to wish the problem of Brexit away".
He warns that failing to respect the Brexit vote, following the "clear message" sent by the local election results, would be "suicidal" for the Conservatives.
The chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, is equally concerned in the Sunday Telegraph: "The temptation to do whatever is necessary to secure some kind of Brexit agreement...must be resisted" he argues.
He adds: "The price could be a catastrophic split in the Conservative party."
The former Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, hits back in the Sunday Express following his sacking over claims he leaked top-secret information.
He tells the paper that suggestions he revealed details of the government's future dealings with the Chinese tech giant Huawei were part of a "slapdash witch-hunt" triggered by "political score settling"
He insists he's "getting hanged for something" he didn't do, saying he would have welcomed a criminal investigation to clear his name.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-48165354
SHAMI CHAKRABARTI had members of the audience of BBC show Any Questions? sniggering as she tried to clarify the Labour Party's current position on Brexit and the possibility of a second referendum.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1122777/Brexit-news-Shami-Chakrabarti-BBC-Labour-UK-EU-withdrawal-plan-Theresa-May-Corbyn-talks
TORY MP Damien Hinds and Labour MP Emily Thornberry were grilled by a Channel 4 News host for their parties' continuous Brexit failures as both were accused of being “intransigent”.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1122844/Brexit-News-update-latest-Theresa-May-Damien-Hinds-Emily-Thornberry-Channel-4-election
Williamson fired ‘for attacking May over diabetes’
Gavin Williamson was sacked as defence secretary after Theresa May was informed that he had attacked her in private, saying that her diabetes made her unfit to be prime minister. May became frustrated with Williamson’s behaviour after hearing that he told fellow Tories that her health meant she should not continue..
Labour and the Tories haven’t got much to look forward to in the European elections next month
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/local-election-results-lib-dems-brexit-eu-referendum-a8898351.html