Courage and the Labour Party (Part 2)

There are three other policy areas which the Labour Party urgently needs to address: culture wars, Scottish independence and Brexit.

Culture wars. The Conservative Party has decided to engage in culture wars as a diversionary tactic. As if it did not have enough to occupy its time, it is intent on hunting down imaginary 'woke militants' in the BBC, the universities, the museums and the National Trust (I kid you not), and waging wars against 'cancel culture' and 'no platforming.' The Labour Party should expose this for the time wasting that it is, and point out that there are many more issues of far more pressing concern. It must not let the Conservative Party win this argument by default because the Labour Party is too frightened to say anything on this question.

Scottish independence. The Labour Party should be willing to accept the settled will of the Scottish people, if they happen to choose independence. (That is a very big 'if', and independence is far from inevitable). However, people will not listen to Labour's sensible proposals for a federal Britain unless it is willing to be flexible on this issue.

Brexit. The Labour Party is understandably frightened of deterring those voters in the so-called 'red wall' seats from voting for it by appearing to be 'unpatriotic' on this issue. It may well be that, despite the absence of debate during the referendum and thereafter on the destructive economic consequences of Brexit, due to the pervasive illusions of 'cakeism', pro-Brexit voters have decided that they prefer the chimera of sovereignty to a healthy, employment-generating economy. So Labour's criticisms of Brexit may fall on deaf ears. Be that as it may, Labour has a duty to break the conspiracy of silence which pervades the media and political debate about the sheer economic irrationality of the Brexit agreement and its very damaging consequences for small and medium-size enterprises, which have already been damaged by the pandemic. If this is unpopular now, time will prove these criticisms to be correct. Labour should not be frightened of the logic of this argument, which points toward re-entry to the single market and the customs union. There is another powerful argument for following the logic of this argument: the serious repercussiuons of Brexit for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Brexit has shafted both parts of the island of Ireland. Re-entry into the single market is the only plausible solution. I have no idea whether this will lead to armed violence ; but British governments should abandon the habit of paying attention to Irish politics only when bombs are being detonated, and ought to be more aware of their historic responsibilities.

(To be continued).