Over the past few days, a group of eight Labour MPs alongside three Conservatives have left their party to form “The Independent Group”, including prominent People’s Vote campaigner Chuka Umunna. As a young Labour supporter myself, this split inevitably saddens me, as it is once again a sign of the left’s chronic inability to set aside its internal differences and work together. Nevertheless, it does not surprise me, and I rather see it as a consequence of Jeremy Corbyn’s inadequacy in addressing internal issues — antisemitism, on the one hand, which was enough to make Luciana Berger feel personally unwelcome within her own party; and Brexit, on the other, as he ploughs ahead largely ignoring the overwhelming majority of Labour members who seek a second referendum.
Within the current debate that has ensued from the Labour split, the term “centrist” has been used to brandish all those who in any shape or form critique Corbyn’s stance on Brexit. A new rift has opened up between the so-called “leftists” of the party, who believe that uniting the country under socialist ideals matters more than a Brexit vote we’ve already decided, and the so-called “centrists”, the disgruntled, middle-class heirs of Blair who desperately seek a second referendum. As much as it may be true that many anti-Brexiters indeed occupy the political middle-ground, I’m frankly tired of the way in which the term has been used to amass us all into a monolithic whole, while simultaneously being thrown around as a kind of insult.
I consider myself left-wing in the proper sense of the term. I disagree with austerity, believing that it causes more damage than it does good, support wealth redistribution, and ultimately lament a world which, since the Thatcher-Reagan years, has turned increasingly neoliberal. At the same time, I’m also a passionate Remainer who is thoroughly unimpressed with Jeremy Corbyn’s lukewarm position on Brexit, albeit unsurprised given his own Eurosceptic history. The tradition of left-wing Eurosceptic critiques are fundamentally based on a myopic view of the EU as an institution — if anything, the Union provides a strong platform from which socialist parties across countries can push for business regulations, environmental protections and tax reforms, something which the pro-Corbyn “Another Europe Is Possible” movement itself affirms. A UK outside of the EU will inevitably be a more right-wing country, as the only way for the nation to restore its economic prowess is to attract more foreign business — resulting in further tax reductions for the 1%, greater cuts to social security and public services, and increasing privatisation.
It is for the very reason I’m against Brexit that I would identify better with leftist policies than those of the centre. My socio-economic views on many grounds overlap with those of the Labour Party’s 2017 manifesto. I feel more in common, ideologically, with Owen Jones than with Vince Cable. Right now, in a country which has suffered for nearly decade under the policies of a Tory government, anything which maintains the neoliberal status quo is to my eyes not sufficient to address the desperation and rampant inequality we have. Rather, we need to reach out to repair working communities which have been left behind over the last decade, as they will be ones who will feel the biggest blow when Brexit occurs. In sum, there are many arguments for which to oppose Brexit and support a People’s Vote, especially given how much more we know now than in June 2016, and to reduce them all to an elusive “centrist” ideology is a reductive and frankly tiresome understanding of the matter.
Ultimately, the Labour split is symptomatic not of “centrist” mutineers in revolt, but of a party which, much like its Conservative counterpart, needs to address its internal issues. It needs to listen to the majority of its members, who want a second referendum. It needs to do more to address antisemitism so people like Luciana Berger can feel at home. To sugarcoat the issue as a question of left vs centre convergences, however real they may be, is too convenient. If things keep on going as they do, we can only expect the split to grow even bigger.