Parliament is a very delicate ecosystem, so if a Labour government is elected to run Britain in the surprise general election that’s been called by current Prime Minister Theresa May to see if she’s really wanted in charge (and the staggering majority of MPs who voted to have the election as soon as 8 June suggests that she’s not), it won’t be as simple as just stopping the Brexit process and staying in the European Union.
But Labour MP Kier Starmer says that would be ideal. Starmer came forward to announce that he wants the UK to remain in the EU, and that’s what will happen under a Labour government unless Parliament can come to an amiable agreement regarding how to handle Brexit (and not just what Theresa May wants, as has been the case so far, it seems).
Tories previously feared that Labour wanted to ‘disrupt’ Brexit
Prior to Starmer’s somewhat surprising announcements today, officials in the Conservative Party had stated their worries that Jeremy Corbyn and his party, Labour, were planning to swoop in and win the election and use their newfound power over the country’s politics to “disrupt” the Brexit process.
However, according to Starmer, that is not necessarily the case. They’ll only disrupt Brexit if Parliament can’t agree on how to go about it, but this should only add to the Tories’ fears of Brexit not going ahead since they’re a highly disagreeable bunch.
Inter-party anti-Brexit pact thrown into the mix
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), the Irish party not to be confused with Britain’s Labour Party because it has three extra words, has been trying to unite with other fringe political parties to rally together under a pact to stop Brexit.
The SDLP feel very strongly about Brexit, since one of their biggest ideals is Europeanism and a European identity including relationships with other European countries, which could be destroyed by the UK leaving the EU to pursue trade elsewhere for God knows what reason (a frantic search for trade deals elsewhere led Theresa May to Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks ago).
However, these discussions have led them into the issue of abortion in Northern Ireland, which are some very murky waters indeed. Basically, Colum Eastwood, the leader of the SDLP, knows his party doesn’t hold a candle to the big dogs like the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, so his plan is to reach out to every other small party opposing Brexit, and all combine forces to become an even greater beast than those mainstream parties.
His idea expands to these parties scratching each other’s back amongst individual constituencies and will eventually lead to one pro-European candidate beating the unionists and bringing everyone else under this pact in tow with them. It’s a crazy idea that just might work, but if anyone’s going to “disrupt” Brexit at this point, the safest bet is probably Corbyn, despite his policies being, as former deputy leader of the Labour Party answering to Neil Kinnock, Roy Hattersley, puts it, “divisive and doomed to failure.”
Eastwood wants to take on the unionists
Eastwood’s crusade against the unionists stems from unionist parties’ votes in the House of Commons in favour of triggering Article 50, Theresa May’s power trip (since her bill was the size of tweet, leaving barely anything for Parliament to debate, and then shutting down any tiny tweaks or amendments that any MPs tried to make during those debates anyway), so he’s had it out for them ever since, and he’s looking to kick off his own SHIELD-style Avengers Initiative to bring them down and put an end to this Brexit madness. Steven Agnew, the Green Party’s leader, could potentially have thrown a spanner in those works with his feelings about SDLP’s anti-abortion policies, but more on that can of worms later.
