Bill Carmichael: Labour sinks deeper in mire on Brexit

Asked on the BBC’s Newsnight programme to describe Labour’s position on Brexit he said: “Well... search me!”

The confusion was supposed to be cleared up by a speech the following day by shadow Brexit minister Sir Keir Starmer who promised some clarity on Labour’s approach to negotiations to leave the EU.

Starmer, named by his left wing parents after the great Labour hero Keir Hardie, is one of the party’s great hopes and widely tipped as a possible leader when Jeremy Corbyn finally shuffles back to his allotment.

But although he is a distinguished lawyer – and a former Director of Public Prosecutions – his speech was a hopeless muddle and only served to muddy the waters still further.

For example, he appeared to accept that Brexit was going to happen, but then said Labour would seek to “retain the benefits of the Single Market and the Customs Union”.

Talk about having your cake and eating it. Labour wants to leave the EU and remain part of it at the same time.

The big problem with this approach is that it won’t work. Our EU partners have made it clear that there can be no “cherry picking” of benefits after we leave the EU.

The EU is terrified that if Britain maintains all the key benefits of membership it will simply encourage other member states to leave, and the whole tottering edifice will finally collapse. And if we remained part of the Customs Union we could be unable to strike our own trade deals with other countries around the world – one of the main benefits of leaving the EU.

But the muddle over immigration was even worse. Asked a question by a journalist after his London speech, Starmer was categorical: “On freedom of movement I’ve been absolutely clear. Freedom of movement will have to end as we leave the EU.”

So far, so good, but later in the day he appeared to contradict himself. Asked by the BBC if EU citizens could enter Britain if they had a job to go to he said: “Yes. Freedom of movement has to go and therefore it will have to change but we must have immigration that works for our communities and for our economy.

“And that means that there has to be movement of people to come and work in this country.”

So within a few hours he said freedom of movement will end, and also it must carry on. Clear as mud! He also wanted to give Parliament a veto over the final agreement – a move that would severely weaken our negotiating hand and encourage the EU to offer us a poor deal.

So the upshot of all this is that we are really no clearer as to Labour’s approach to Brexit, one of the key issues in the coming election.

And if Starmer is truly Labour’s best hope for future leadership, then the party must be in a worse state than we imagined.

Sacked at last

Congratulations to Lib Dem leader Tim Farron for finally finding the backbone to sack David Ward as the party’s candidate for Bradford East in the upcoming election – although he had to be shamed into doing the right thing in the House of Commons.

Farron had earlier suggested he could not intervene, but he changed his mind after former Bradford council leader Eric Pickles raised Ward’s disgusting record of anti-Semitism during Prime Minister’s Question Time.

Ward, a former Bradford East MP, has previously been condemned by the Home Affairs Select Committee for his incendiary comments, including fantasising about firing rockets at Israel and blaming “the Jews” for the plight of Palestinians.

In sacking him as candidate and suspending his party membership the Lib Dem leader said his previous comments about Jews were “deeply offensive, wrong and anti-Semitic”.

It took Farron a while to get there, but at least he eventually did the right thing.

Ward’s continuing involvement in politics in Bradford brings shame and embarrassment on the city.

And you have to ask, what on earth were local Lib Dem members thinking when they chose him to be their candidate in the first place?