Labour Has the Same Position on Cake as Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson is famous for saying that his policy on cake is: pro having it and pro eating it. If their manifesto is anything to go by, Labour appears to be of the same mind.
On Brexit, their manifesto begins by saying:
Labour accepts the referendum result and a Labour government will put the national interest first
So far, so good. It goes on to say:
We will scrap the Conservatives’ Brexit White Paper and replace it with fresh negotiating priorities that have a strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the Single Market and the Customs Union
Which seems like a fairly clear espousal of so-called soft Brexit. However, the manifesto also says:
Freedom of movement will end when we leave the European Union. Britain’s immigration system will change
Which seems like a pretty clear espousal of so-called hard Brexit. The problem here is that we can’t have both soft Brexit and hard Brexit. EU leaders have made it very clear that ending freedom of movement means being outside the Single Market, and that being inside the Single Market means accepting freedom of movement.
As this BBC article notes:
Last year David Cameron tried to persuade German Chancellor Angela Merkel to let the UK have a special deal to opt out of free movement of people, while staying in the single market.
She said no. And she meant, well, no. Not “no-but-ok-if-you-push-hard-enough-maybe-yes”. Just no.
When she said it again before the referendum vote, she meant no. And last week to Theresa May in Brussels, again, the answer no. She doesn’t quite know how to make it any clearer.
Similarly, after Theresa May met EU leaders in December of 2016, they issued a statement saying:
We reiterate that any agreement will have to be based on a balance of rights and obligations. Access to the Single Market requires acceptance of all four freedoms
So, which is it? Does Labour want to end freedom of movement or to stay inside the Single Market?
