BREXIT No deal no way Defying the poli
Whatever the Brexit outcome, Unite is fighting for unity and the best possible outcome for members This is a tale of two Brexits. The first relates
to division and uncertainty, of political crisis and economic danger, the second to working people using their collective industrial strength to resist and overcome specific Brexit-related issues – one workplace at a time.
Taken as a whole, Brexit’s myriad challenges may seem insurmountable, but major new research shows that Unite representatives are successfully confronting the challenges leaving the EU has thrown up. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said that momentum must be carried forward as Brexit uncertainty continues to grow.
He said, “Brexit cannot be something which will just happen to us or be imposed from above. How it is experienced is something we can and must proactively shape, irrespective of the attempts to divide us. Above all else the findings (from this research) show that unity on the everyday industrial questions that matter to working people triumphs over the politics of division.”
Brexit has undeniably plunged our political system into chaos, opening the door to an unelected and mendacious prime minister determined to turn the UK into deregulated tax-haven on the shores of Europe. This, coupled with the mismanagement of the Brexit process by successive Tory governments, has already had a brutal impact on Britain’s economic wellbeing.
The automotive sector, the jewel in Britain’s manufacturing crown, has seen its worst period of decline in two decades, while investment in UK industry as a
whole has fallen to levels not seen since the 2009 recession. Dire warnings from the government’s own no deal dossier show that if Johnson crashes the UK out of the EU on October 31 the negative impacts already felt will pale in comparison to the longterm economic damage he will cause.
The Yellowhammer dossier, leaked to the Sunday Times in August, warns that severe border delays for six months, fuel, food and medicine shortages, civil disorder, a hard Irish border and devastated industries, are all likely under no deal. Yellowhammer’s findings directly correlate with what Unite, as well as industry and business leaders, have consistently said: A no deal Brexit will imperil hundreds of thousands of British jobs by throwing the UK’s economy over a cliff edge.
In response to opposition parties and rebel Tory MPs coming together to prevent the government from enacting such a disastrous course of action, Boris Johnson suspended parliament for five weeks on 9 September. The move, described as a “coup” and an “affront to democracy”, mean that MPs will return to the house with just two weeks left before the October 31 deadline.
The most surefire way to thwart Johnson’s plans have been put forward by Jeremy Corbyn. Under the Labour leader’s proposals, opposition MPs would topple the government though a no confidence vote and install Corbyn as a temporary “caretaker” prime minister. Corbyn would then hold a general election once the possibility of a no deal exit has been ruled out.
Corbyn’s caretaker plan has, for now, been rejected by rebel Tory and Liberal
18 uniteWORKS Autumn 2019
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