Labour must break party’s silence on Brexit, says Stella Creasy

theguardian.com:

A prominent Labour MP today condemns her party’s self-imposed silence on Brexit, saying it is playing into Boris Johnson’s hands and hampering attempts to tackle urgent issues such as the cost of living crisis and climate change.

Writing for the Observer, Stella Creasy suggests Labour’s defensive approach amounts to a betrayal of those who voted to remain in the EU in 2016.

Labour, she argues, cannot and must not wait until after the next general election to speak out about areas in which Brexit is clearly failing, and the benefits of cooperating more closely with our European neighbours.

“For fear of saying the wrong thing, many in Labour claim it is better to say nothing at all about Brexit. But such reticence does not honour those who voted Leave – or Remain,” she writes. “Each wanted their vote to mean something better than chaos at the borders or businesses in peril.”

Creasy, who chairs the Labour Movement for Europe, adds: “Whether [it is] businesses overwhelmed with red tape, [or] care homes missing staff or rising food prices, the public are asking why such difficulties keep happening – and finding MPs avoiding an honest answer, let alone a solution. To fix something, you first must name it. And that means getting over the myth that talking about Europe is code for re-running referendums.”

Her comments come amid growing frustration among many Labour MPs and activists about Keir Starmer’s refusal to address in any detail the Brexit issue – one on which he campaigned vigorously before he became leader, and was prepared to defy then leader Jeremy Corbyn. Starmer was a leading proponent of a second referendum on EU membership, arguing that membership was indisputably in the UK’s national interest.

Now, however, the Labour