jeremy corbyn
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FILE PHOTO: Britain’s Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn and Labour Party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer leave a meeting with European Union Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier (not pictured) at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 21, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
March 14, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s opposition Labour Party will not support a proposal for a second Brexit referendum due to be voted on in parliament later on Thursday, the party’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said.
Parliament will later vote on a government proposal for a three-month delay to the Article 50 Brexit negotiation period if a deal is approved by March 20, and a longer delay if it is not.
Lawmakers have proposed changes to that including one, amendment H, which says a delay should be used to hold a second referendum.
“We will not be supporting H tonight,” Starmer told parliament. “Today is about the question of whether Article 50 should be extended.”
Starmer said Labour would support holding a public vote on any Brexit deal which is approved by parliament.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is greeted by young women and red roses during a visit to Finsbury Park Mosque, on Visit My Mosque day, in London, Britain, March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
March 12, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May’s assurances on her Brexit divorce deal are not even close to the changes that she promised lawmakers, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Tuesday.
“The Prime Minister’s negotiations have failed. Last night’s agreement with the European Commission does not contain anything approaching the changes Theresa May promised parliament,” Corbyn said on Twitter. “That’s why lawmakers must reject this deal today.”
(Reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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FILE PHOTO: Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, gives a speech at the EEF National Manufacturing conference, in London, Britain, February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
March 11, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn will ask Prime Minister Theresa May about progress made in achieving legal changes to her divorce deal and the timetable for the so-called a meaningful vote on her agreement in parliament on Monday.
“It’s imperative that the Prime Minister answers Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons today,” Keir Starmer, the Labour Party Brexit spokesman said after the party said they had tabled an urgent question. The government can decide who answers Corbyn’s question.
“Accountability for the complete mess we are in lies with her.”
(Reporting By Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Alistair Smout)
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FILE PHOTO: British and EU flags flutter outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
March 11, 2019
By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON (Reuters) – There is no majority in Britain’s parliament in favor of holding a second Brexit referendum, according to a Reuters analysis of public comments made by lawmakers.
Britain is due to leave the European Union at the end of this month, and with parliament yet to approve Prime Minister Theresa May’s exit deal, calls for a second referendum to break the deadlock, often dubbed a ‘people’s vote’, have intensified.
Last month, the opposition Labour Party broke new ground for one of the major parties by saying it would support a new referendum on May’s deal after parliament defeated its alternative Brexit plan.
Labour’s position could face its first test on Tuesday when May’s deal is brought back to parliament. Labour indicated on Sunday it would not put forward its own proposal for a second referendum at that time, but other lawmakers could force a vote on the issue.
While a majority of lawmakers voted to remain in the bloc in the 2016 referendum, a Reuters analysis of public comments found that only 219 have expressed a willingness to support another vote, and a further 65 have not made their views known.
This is well short of the 318 votes needed to guarantee approval of the amendment if there are no absences or abstentions.
A referendum would need to be approved by parliament and May has ruled out proposing one, saying it would deepen already ugly divisions over Britain’s biggest decision since World War Two and betray the 52 percent – 17.4 million people – who voted to leave the EU.
POLITICAL STATEMENT
While Tuesday’s votes on amendments are not binding on the government, they would be politically hard to ignore.
Those in favor of a new referendum include many Labour lawmakers, seven of May’s Conservatives, the newly formed Independent Group and the pro-EU Liberal Democrats. The Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party has also backed the idea of another vote, although at least one of his lawmakers has voiced concern.
In contrast, 245 lawmakers openly oppose the idea, 15 are deeply skeptical and a further 94 government ministers and whips, or parliamentary enforcers, would be required to vote in line with the government’s position against another referendum.
So far, 24 of Labour’s 245 lawmakers have said publicly they do not support another referendum, while a further 13, many of whom represent areas that voted strongly in favor of leaving the EU, have expressed reservations.
“I will not, shall not and cannot vote for a second referendum, regardless of how much lipstick is put on it and what it is called,” Labour lawmaker Gareth Snell told parliament after his party announced its backing for another vote.
“That is a distraction from the main purpose of our job, which is to find a deal.”
Labour lawmaker Caroline Flint has said as many as 60 or 70 of her colleagues oppose a referendum.
It is unclear what conditions Labour might attach to supporting a second referendum, and there is disagreement within the party over whether any referendum should include an option to remain in the EU.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who voted against joining the EU in 1975, has said his party would support a referendum to “prevent a damaging Tory (Conservative) Brexit or disastrous ‘no deal’” – leaving open the possibility that it would back a different deal without a popular vote.
BRITAIN STILL DIVIDED
Some lawmakers may yet change their minds, particularly if any referendum was a confirmatory vote on whether to back May’s deal, much as Corbyn suggests, rather than a re-run of the 2016 vote. But the numbers suggest it is likely to have difficulty getting through parliament.
Opinion polls indicate Britons are still deeply divided over Brexit. While most voters would stick to their 2016 choice, some surveys have shown a swing towards remaining in the EU.
A YouGov poll last month found that, when asked to choose between accepting May’s deal and having another referendum, 51 percent favored a fresh vote and 49 percent – the deal.
Lawmakers across parties cite worries about prolonging uncertainty and increasing division as reasons for opposing a vote, while the most common argument is that it would be undemocratic to seek to overturn the result of a vote in which more than 30 million people took part.
But pro-referendum campaigners say voters did not know what kind of Brexit was available when they were offered a binary choice between “Remain” and “Leave” in the 2016 referendum.
“Now we know what Brexit looks like, now we know the cost, and now we know how badly Brexit compares to our current deal in the EU, the only way forward is to put it to the people,” said Labour lawmaker and People’s Vote campaigner David Lammy.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper and William James; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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Guest post by Adrienna DiCioccio
We live in a world of censorship, and censorship is an invaluable fundamental of fascism. It does not play nice when it comes to free speech and free thought. When censorship is at hand dictatorship is on the horizon. It no longer operates by simply hiding information from you. Modern censorship works by flooding you with immense amount of misinformation, irrelevant information, and mindless entertainment until you can no longer focus on what is important or the truth. Bread and games. Every day lately a new case of censorship is occurring. A name gets banned on social media for investigative journalism. Most recently, Tommy Robinson was banned from Facebook, and Instagram, on the same day that he released his PanoDrama documentary — which was meant to expose fake news in the United Kingdom.
Another example: a movie rating site takes down their percentage ratings suppressing a viewer’s opinion to what they just watched. Basically, hear no, see no, speak no. Most recent movie to be manipulated by reviews is Captain Marvel.
Big tech monopolizing companies, that co-op to silence individuals are destroying livelihoods. There are people like Joe Biggs being banned from their bank, and users who are banned from PayPal like Laura Loomer. As of yesterday, she cannot sell her merchandise from Teespring.com due to PayPal’s control. Essentially anywhere Laura is trying to go PayPal is seeking her out and making sure she cannot operate her business.
We are heading towards the 2020 election and need to bring awareness to censorship or the outcome will be like they already were in 2016 by the DNC, manipulated. Take Venezuela for instance socialist president Maduro detained, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos and took his equipment, which was most likely tampered with. For asking the wrong questions and showing a video to make Maduro uncomfortable. Protesters are outside Algerian radio, in Venezuela protesting against censorship as you are reading this.
This is a piece of guest commentary. The views expressed above do not necessarily represent those of The Washington Pundit.
FILE PHOTO: Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and members of the shadow cabinet, arrive at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Britain, September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Phil Noble
February 25, 2019
By Kylie MacLellan and William James
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s opposition Labour Party said on Monday it would back calls for a second referendum on Brexit if parliament rejects its alternative plan for leaving the European Union.
With just over a month until Britain is due to leave the bloc on March 29, Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking changes to her exit deal in order to break an impasse in parliament.
Labour’s decision could damage her hopes of winning support for a revised deal in a vote she has promised by March 12, by attracting those who would have backed her agreement in order to avoid a no-deal exit but who would prefer a second referendum.
Parliament is due to debate and vote on Wednesday on the next steps in Britain’s tortuous departure from the EU, and lawmakers are set to offer proposals, or amendments, which could include demanding the exit deal is put to a public vote.
Labour said it would put forward an amendment calling on the government to adopt its Brexit proposals, which include a permanent customs union with the EU and close alignment with the bloc’s single market.
“If Parliament rejects our plan, then Labour will deliver on the promise we made at our annual conference and support a public vote,” Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said.
Parliament is not expected to back Labour’s Brexit plan and it remains unclear whether there is a majority in parliament in favor of holding a second referendum.
“We’re in a very volatile situation. We are in the middle of a political crisis and a constitutional crisis… It’s difficult to say at any one point what feelings are going to be two or three weeks down the line,” a Labour spokesman told reporters.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been under pressure for some time to support a second referendum. Last week, eight referendum-supporting lawmakers quit the party, in part owing to frustration over his failure to back another vote.
The prospect of holding a second vote poses a dilemma for Corbyn: while many of the party’s members and supporters fervently back a so-called People’s Vote, others simply want Britain to leave the EU as soon as possible.
BACK TO ‘SQUARE ONE’
Labour said it would support a bid by its lawmaker Yvette Cooper to give parliament the legal power to force May to delay Brexit by seeking an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period.
“We are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favor of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory (Conservative) Brexit being forced on the country,” Corbyn was due to tell a meeting of his lawmakers on Monday, his office said.
“One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no deal.”
Brandon Lewis, Chairman of May’s Conservatives, said another popular vote would “take us back to square one” and Labour had gone back on its promise to respect the 2016 referendum result. That went 52-48 percent in favor of leaving the EU.
The amendment on a public vote may not come at this week’s vote in parliament however. The Labour spokesman said the wording and timing of the amendment was still to be decided.
A proposal by Labour lawmakers Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson that May’s deal be put to the public in another referendum will not be put forward for a vote in parliament until May brings her agreement back for approval.
“There’s no turning back for Jeremy now,” Kyle said.
Labour lawmakers at the meeting on Monday were split in their reactions.
“I still have deep reservations about the idea of having another referendum. I think it’s going to be deeply divisive,” lawmaker Stephen Kinnock said.
Labour foreign affairs spokeswoman Emily Thornberry told ITV a second referendum should present a choice between May’s deal and remaining in the EU, but the Labour spokesman directly contradicted her, saying that would be an unacceptable choice.
The Remain Labour campaign group, which wants to stop Brexit, said the announcement was “a significant step forward”.
“A second referendum was only ever possible with the votes of Labour Members of Parliament and we are now on the verge of making this happen,” founder Andrew Lewin said in a statement.
“We are not complacent, but we are closer tonight to a People’s Vote than we have ever been.”
(Editing by Kevin Liffey, Catherine Evans and Frances Kerry)
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Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May attends a summit between Arab league and European Union member states, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
February 25, 2019
By Elizabeth Piper and Aidan Lewis
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May said a timely exit for Britain from the European Union is “within our grasp” and insisted on Monday that delaying Brexit would be no way to solve the impasse in parliament over the departure.
Her comments came as the opposition Labour Party said it would support calls for a second referendum on Brexit, a potentially significant policy shift that could further damage May’s hopes of getting a divided parliament to approve her exit deal.
May said she wanted Brexit to happen as planned on March 29 and shrugged off expectations that she will be forced to delay to avoid leaving the EU in a disorderly way without an agreement.
With the crisis going down to the wire, May is struggling to get the kind of changes from the EU she says she needs to get her divorce deal through a divided parliament and smooth the country’s biggest policy shift in more than 40 years.
May, in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for an EU/Arab League summit, met European leaders to push her efforts to make her deal more attractive to parliament, where frustrated lawmakers are gearing up to try to wrest control of Brexit from the government.
While she said EU leaders had given her a sense that a deal could be won, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said they risked “sleep walking” into a no-deal Brexit and European Council President Donald Tusk described any delay as “a rational decision”.
For now though, May is sticking firmly to the script, saying extending the negotiating period with the EU, which was triggered by Article 50 and which ends on March 29, would not solve the Brexit problem.
“What it does is precisely what the word ‘delay’ says. It just delays the point at which you come to that decision,” she told reporters at the summit. “And I think that any extension of Article 50, in that sense, isn’t addressing the issue. We have (a deal) within our grasp.”
May has promised to bring back a vote on her divorce settlement to parliament by March 12.
Her chances of winning any such vote were damaged later in the day when the main opposition Labour Party said it would support proposals for a second public vote to stop May’s Brexit deal if its own plan for Britain’s EU exit is rejected.
“We are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favor of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country,” Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was due to tell his party on Monday, according to his office.
The move could attract lawmakers who would have backed May’s deal purely to avoid a no-deal exit, but who would prefer a second referendum.
It was not clear whether there is a majority in parliament supporting another public vote, which would require a Brexit delay to allow for time to organize it. Britons voted by 52-48 percent in favor of leaving the EU in a referendum in 2016.
DELAY
Earlier, one UK official indicated delay could be an option if lawmakers refuse to pass May’s deal.
Tobias Ellwood, a defense minister, also told BBC radio: “If we cannot get this deal across the line, we are facing the prospect of having to extend.”
The EU has said it is willing to grant an extension if there is evidence parliament could pass the deal. Lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected May’s deal last month.
Tusk said it was clear there was no majority in the British parliament for a deal, telling a news conference:
“I believe that in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational decision, but Prime Minister May still believes she will be able to avoid this scenario.”
The EU has said any agreement on a revised Brexit deal must be sealed by the bloc’s summit of national leaders on March 21-22 at the latest and May suggested that parliament could approve the deal before the bloc signed off on it.
‘FAITH’ IN POLITICS
A no-deal Brexit is seen as potentially hugely damaging to the Britain’s economy, the world’s fifth largest.
While sterling rallied on the suggestion of a delay, May has to tread carefully, with euroskeptics poised to leap on anything they see as an attempt to thwart Brexit.
“I think it would be disastrous if we had a delay,” said Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative pro-Brexit lawmaker. “I think that faith in our politics – what faith is left in it – would evaporate.”
May decided to push back a vote on her deal to give more time for talks aimed at securing changes to the Irish backstop, an insurance policy that would prevent the return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.
A spokeswoman for Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, said progress was being made. Britain’s Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will hold more talks in Brussels on Tuesday.
Several lawmakers have proposals that involve delaying Brexit to win more time to break the parliamentary deadlock.
Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper has called on parliament to back her bid to seek to force the government to hand power to parliament if no deal has been approved by March 13 and to offer lawmakers the option of requesting an extension.
Two Conservatives have offered another plan that could be more attractive to the government. That would delay Brexit to May 23, the start of the European Parliament elections, if lawmakers have not approved a deal by March 12.
A government official said the proposal could be considered “helpful”.
(Additional reporting by William James in London and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Frances Kerry)
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Britain’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid is seen outside of Downing Street in London, Britain, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
February 25, 2019
By Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Monday it plans to ban all wings of Hezbollah due to its destabilizing influence in the Middle East, classing the Lebanese Islamist movement as a terrorist organization.
London had already proscribed Hezbollah’s external security unit and its military wing in 2001 and 2008 respectively, but now wants to outlaw its political arm too.
Hezbollah has a role in the Lebanese government so the move may raise questions for Britain’s relationship with Lebanon, although Lebanon’s Hezbollah-allied foreign minister said the UK had informed the country of its commitment to the bilateral relationship.
“Hezbollah is continuing in its attempts to destabilize the fragile situation in the Middle East – and we are no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party,” British Home Secretary (interior minister) Sajid Javid said.
“Because of this, I have taken the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety,” he added in a statement.
The Iran-backed Shi’ite group is already deemed a terrorist organization by the United States, which last week expressed concern about its growing role in Lebanon’s government. Hezbollah lawmakers termed that a “violation of sovereignty”.
The British ban, which will come into force on Friday subject to parliamentary approval, means anyone who is a member of Hezbollah or invites support will be committing a criminal offense with a potential sentence of up to 10 years in jail.
ISRAEL: EU SHOULD FOLLOW SUIT
Explaining its decision, the British government said the organization continued to amass weapons in contravention of U.N. Security Council resolutions, while its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had prolonged “the conflict and the regime’s brutal and violent repression of the Syrian people”.
There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, a political ally of the group, said the British move would not have a negative impact on Lebanon and that Britain had informed Lebanon of its commitment to bilateral ties.
However, in comments reported by the National News Agency, he also defended the group, whose arsenal has been a focal point of political division for years in Lebanon.
“If the whole world stood up and said the resistance is terrorism, this does not make it terrorism as far as the Lebanese are concerned,” said Bassil, who is also a son-in-law of Lebanon’s president and leads the political party he founded.
Hezbollah now controls three of 30 ministries in Lebanon’s government, the largest number it has ever held, and has seen its regional clout expand too with fighters in various Middle East conflicts including neighboring Syria.
It does not acknowledge the existence of separate wings.
Hezbollah’s lifelong enemy, Israel, thanked Javid.
“All who truly wish to combat terror must reject the fake distinction between ‘military’ & ‘political’ wings,” Israeli Security Minister Gilad Erdan said in a tweet. “Now is the time for the #EU to follow suit!”
In Britain, Hezbollah has been a topic of internal political controversy, with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn criticized by opponents for once calling the group friends.
“What do we see from his Labour Party? Hamas and Hezbollah friends, Israel and the United States enemies,” Prime Minister Theresa May said last week in parliament.
(Reporting by Michael Holden in London, Tom Perry in Beirut; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Andrew Cawthorne and Frances Kerry)
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FILE PHOTO: Britain’s Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn and Labour Party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer leave a meeting with European Union Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier (not pictured) at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 21, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
February 22, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said if his party won power he would renegotiate a Brexit deal with the European Union and could hold another referendum, as he comes under pressure to support giving the public another chance to stay in the bloc.
Parliament is deadlocked over Britain’s departure from the European Union after resoundingly rejecting Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan last month, throwing up several outcomes, including leaving without a deal or a second referendum.
Corbyn, when asked if he would hold a referendum on any deal on any deal he negotiated, told Sky News: “We’d consider putting that to the public.”
Asked to clarify if he was considering calling for another referendum, Corbyn said: “That’s the point we’re discussing now in the party.”
This comes after nine Labour lawmakers quit the party this week over its approach to Brexit and anti-Semitism.
Earlier John McDonnell, the second most powerful man in the Labour Party, gave his strongest indication yet that Labour is close to backing a second public vote and said he would campaign for remain if one is held.
McDonnell said Labour is “moving towards” a second referendum on Brexit. He said an amendment calling for a public vote which is being tabled for debate next week by lawmakers “could be a solution”.
The party’s would-be finance minister said that any referendum would have remaining in the European Union as the alternative to the deal.
“If we were going on a People’s Vote based on a deal that has gone through parliament in some form, if that got voted down then you’d have status quo, and that would be remain,” he told the Evening Standard.
“I’d campaign for remain and I’d vote for remain.”
May has ruled out staging a second vote, saying parliament should respect the 2016 referendum when 52 percent of Britons who cast a vote chose to leave the EU. But supporters of a second referendum say it is the only way to break the deadlock in parliament by asking for the people to decide.
(Reporting By Andrew MacAskill, Editing by William Maclean)
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Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair addresses the media at a news conference held by The People’s Vote in London, Britain, December 14, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
February 22, 2019
By Elisabeth O’Leary
EDINBURGH (Reuters) – British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could seize on a “huge opportunity” to win back key seats in its former Scottish heartland by endorsing a second vote on Brexit, former Labour prime minister Tony Blair said.
He said Labour could recover ground from the Scottish arm of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives, led by Ruth Davidson, by offering a second vote and a way out for Scots, most of whom oppose Britain’s planned exit from the European Union. Nationally, Britons voted by a 52-48 percent margin in 2016 in favor of Brexit.
“The vulnerability of Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives is that they are tied to Theresa May. That is a vulnerability, but it’s only a vulnerability you can exploit if you’re prepared to say, ‘We’d stop the thing’,” Blair, premier for a decade to 2007, told Holyrood Magazine in an interview published on Friday.
“So, you’ve literally got those votes just lying on the table waiting to be taken, you just need to say it,” said Blair, a centre-left Europhile who backs a second referendum on Brexit.
With just five weeks until Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, May is yet to get the changes to her exit deal with Brussels she needs to secure its ratification in parliament.She has ruled out a second referendum, saying that would negate “the will of the British people” expressed in 2016.
Ahead of a promised parliamentary debate and vote on the next steps on Brexit on Feb. 27, Corbyn is under intense pressure from moderates within his party to back a second referendum explicitly, now that the terms of Brexit are known.
Corbyn, a longtime eurosceptic, has said Labour is focusing on securing an early national election before any possible resort to a second referendum.
Nine of his lawmakers have resigned this week, with most supporting a second referendum. British media have reported dozens more could follow if Corbyn does not back a plan to put May’s Brexit withdrawal deal to a public vote.
Some of those defectors have teamed up with some pro-EU Conservative lawmakers who are also pushing for a second referendum, a further sign of the fragmentation of British politics wrought by the decision to leave the EU.
Labour has seven of Scotland’s 59 seats in Britain’s 650-seat parliament, having fallen to a low of just one seat in the 2015 election. But its position is still weak for a party that for decades dominated Scottish politics and had 41 seats in 2005.
To be voted back into power in Britain, Labour would probably have to recover a significant number of seats in Scotland, which is traditionally more left-leaning but is now dominated by the Scottish National Party.
The next national election is not due until 2022.
(Reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary)
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