Labour To Back Eu Referendum

[rollover]

Acting leader Harriet Harman has said Labour will now support plans for an EU referendum by the end of 2017. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32863749

Are they taking the p**s out of Tories?

[TheBlueCat]

Are they taking the p**s out of Tories?

They feel confident that the vote will be to stay in whatever the outcome of the 'negotiations'. On top of that, they also think, possibly rightly, that the Tory party will tear itself apart in the process. It's possible that a few Labour MPs will also be in the leave camp but the vast majority will toe the party line. Given all of that, there's no downside to them supporting a referendum.

[anonguest]

They feel confident that the vote will be to stay in whatever the outcome of the 'negotiations'. On top of that, they also think, possibly rightly, that the Tory party will tear itself apart in the process. It's possible that a few Labour MPs will also be in the leave camp but the vast majority will toe the party line. Given all of that, there's no downside to them supporting a referendum.

Agree with pretty much all you say here. Shows how stupid they were for not working this out themselves before the election. Had they done so, and adopted this line in time for the election, then they may well have gained more crucial votes.

But of course, prior to the election their stance/attitude was that of arrogance - in telling us plebs what is good for us and not listening at all to what noises the plebs were making.

Now, having had the legs of their pedestal kicked out from under them and painfully brought back down to earth, the jolt of losing has made them start to realise they have to give the customers more of what they want.

[billybong]

It goes to show how resilient any of the LibLabCon pre-election commitments are to the people who voted for them in the general election a little over a fortnight ago.

Ms Harman told the Sunday Times the change in position came after they "reflected on the conversations we had on doorsteps" during the election.

but they weren't going to take those conversations during/before the election into account and change their position for the election. It's democracy

Mind you likely Farage would say something like the more the merrier.

Edited May 25, 2015 by billybong

[Bootsox]

Interesting that the Labour supporting BBC aren't reporting this as a u-turn (a major one at that).

[The Masked Tulip]

BBC seems very cheesed off that 1.5 million foreigners in the UK will not be allowed to vote.

[malk]

Interesting that the Labour supporting BBC aren't reporting this as a u-turn (a major one at that).

That old canard.

https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-biased-is-the-bbc-17028

[RentingForever]

More likely that they've realised they don't have the MPs to vote this down. Expect a lot more of this - they'll be picking their battles very carefully.

[billybong]

It also suggests they've decided that if the UK votes for IN then Labour can continue to dismantle the UK (when they get back in power) and claim that it has a mandate from the UK people via the IN vote - and it looks like a form of eu referendum is going to happen in any event.

With the IN vote they can use it to openly justify all sorts of stuff that they could only achieve by stealth and deception in the past.

[campervanman]

Masked Tulip, "The BBC seem very cheesed off that 1.5million UK taxpayers foreigners will not be allowed to vote"

Corrected for you.

Edited May 29, 2015 by campervanman

[EUBanana]

Masked Tulip, "The BBC seem very cheesed off that 1.5million UK taxpayers foreigners will not be allowed to vote"

Corrected for you.

Being a taxpayer has nothing to do with getting a vote necessarily - in any country on Earth. They are effectively guest workers.

Those who want a rigged referendum need to stop being so blatant.

[Goat]

That old canard.

https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-biased-is-the-bbc-17028

"The funding for some of the research discussed in this article was provided directly by the BBC Trust."