Labour Leave voters are ditching Brexit, Gordon Brown claims
3 min read
More than a million Labour voters who backed Brexit in 2016 have since changed their mind, Gordon Brown has said.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the former Labour prime minister pointed to polling by campaign group Hope not Hate that suggests more than a fifth (21%) of Labour Leave voters have shifted their views since the referendum.
He said Remain voters were becoming "despondent" at the progress of Brexit negotiations under Theresa May's government, while Leave voters were left feeling "betrayed" by the reality of talks with the EU.
"Ironically, Leavers and Remainers now do have one thing in common - both are increasingly losing hope for a better future for Britain," the Labour big beast said.
"Remain voters are despondent, fearing that we have moved from a soft Brexit to a hard Brexit to a no-deal Brexit.
"But leave voters believe that none of the Brexit options- a Norway-style deal, a Swiss-style deal or the Canadian option - can deliver what they were promised and now feel betrayed.
"Our country is often accused of being stuck in the past. The problem this time is that we are stuck in the present – and, as each day passes, becoming less and less optimistic about the future."
The intervention by the former prime minister and chancellor comes ahead of Labour's annual conference next month, where Jeremy Corbyn is expected to face pressure from some party activisists to back a second referendum on the final Brexit deal.
The Labour leader has repeatedly insisted that a second vote is not Labour policy, although some members of his shadow cabinet have pointedly refused to rule out another referendum.
A fresh poll for the Independent/BMG this week found that 48% of the public would now back a vote on any deal struck between the UK and the EU - up from 44% just four weeks ago.
Fewer than a quarter (24%) of the 1,500 people surveyed were opposed to second vote, down three points over the same period.
Sixteen percent said they did not have strong feelings either way, while 11% said they did not know.
BREXIT 'FAILURE'
Mr Brown told the audience in Edinburgh that Brexit had won support because of "a failure to address real problems brought about by globalisation", including "migration, sovereignty, wage stagnation, manufacturing decline, the quality of jobs and the prospects for young people".
He urged the current crop of political leaders to "rise to the challenge of dealing with these very real problems", and argued that the UK could "reassert our sovereignty" without leaving the European Union by passing a new law "that insists that European decisions have to respect and uphold our country’s national identity".
The Labour heavyweight also tore into the records of both the Scottish and UK Governments, accusing them of creating "a generation of invisible boys and girls" by failing to curb child poverty.
He said: "Kirkcaldy – where I grew up – now has the fifth worst area for child poverty in Scotland – and the worst outside Glasgow. In East Kirkcaldy, 40% of children are in poverty but soon, on current projections, every second child – more than 50% – will be in poverty.
"This means that without remedial action the prospects for nearly half a generation of children are today in tatters, with Westminster and Holyrood governments shamefully ignoring this national disgrace and the silent suffering and sorrows of left-out millions – and simply hoping the children, and the numbers, will remain invisible."
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