For British party politics, the all-consuming story of the day will be of parliamentary divisions over Syria. Yet, without seeking to minimise that argument in any way, Syria is emphatically not the only defining issue facing Britain. It may not even be the main one. In barely two weeks’ time, David Cameron goes to Brussels to try to hammer out a deal on the EU demands he enumerated at Chatham House in November. That deal, assuming there is one, will underpin the UK referendum on Europe, which may take place as soon as next summer. As decisions of importance go, that EU referendum takes a lot of beating.
That’s why today’s launch of the Labour party’s campaign for the UK to remain in the EU could ultimately be the most significant thing that Jeremy Corbyn’s embattled party does this week. Mr Corbyn, as it happens, played no direct part in the launch. Instead that task was undertaken by the former home secretary Alan Johnson, whose new campaign video embodies the kind of middle Britain, bread-and-butter approach to politics that Mr Corbyn tends to avoid. In Labour’s campaign, the question of EU membership is framed in terms of what’s best for families, and defending prosperity and security. There are more elevated reasons why Britain should remain in the EU, but this is a bedrock part of the case. It is classic Labour stuff, classically expressed.
There is a lot more to this than the reminder, encouraging though it is, that Labour hasn’t entirely lost its collective groove. The campaign to stay in the EU needs a strong and consistent Labour voice. In the absence of a principled pro-EU approach from the Conservative party, which is chronically divided over the issue, and with the eclipse of the pro-European Liberal Democrats, it falls to Labour, as it was always going to do, to provide the political perspective and direction that Britain needs over the issue. Labour learned in Scotland that an all-party campaign risks being framed by its enemies as an establishment conspiracy against the people. So a partisan move like this matters a lot, especially among English voters.
Putting fresh legs into the drive for Britain to remain in the EU has rarely seemed more urgent, especially after the underwhelming business-dominated launch of Britain Stronger in Europe in October and with a referendum maybe only seven months away. Recent opinion polls have shown the public still in favour of EU membership, but not by much. With the political mood recently soured by migration and terrorism, the importance of a campaign that promotes jobs and the economy, rights at work and international cooperation on issues from crime to climate change is an important push-back. In a week when a plurality of British voters said they favoured an EU standing army, it cannot be said that the mood over the EU lacks pro-European positives. But with the Tory party paralysed on Europe, Labour’s campaign is a vital message at a vital time.
