Write to Keir Starmer: Please don't whip Labour MPs to vote for Boris' Brexit deal

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Email subject: Please don't whip Labour MPs to vote for Boris' Brexit deal

Email Text:

Dear Keir Starmer

As a Labour Party supporter, I am deeply worried to read media reports that Labour is considering voting to support the Brexit deal that Boris Johnson brings back.

While we do not know the exact contents of the deal, we already know that it will fall far short of the promises Boris Johnson made to the British people and that it will fail to meet Labour’s original Brexit tests, or those of the TUC.

We also know, as per independent analysis by the Bank of England, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Treasury and virtually every single think tank, that any kind of Brexit deal will make the UK poorer than it otherwise would have been, had the UK remained in the European Union.

Just a few months before Brexit predictions will be proven Brexit reality, it would seem extremely short-sighted to vote for Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal and then have Labour held equally responsible by the public for all its damaging effects.

Voting for Boris’ Brexit deal will not win back Scotland, where a large majority voted to Remain and will not win back the ‘Red Wall’ either, when the majority of Labour voters, even in Northern Leave seats voted to Remain and surveys report that the former Labour leadership, not Labour’s Brexit position, was their primary reason for defecting.

To give Boris Johnson a huge majority for his Brexit deal, would also be seen as a big endorsement for his negotiating strategy, including his attempts to break international law.

Whilst voting against Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal would be best to show voters that it does not meet his promises, we cannot risk a no-deal Brexit, and there is a danger that if Labour voted against it, along with the ERG and other Tory Brexiteer hardliners, that could be the outcome.

Therefore, as frustrating as it is, I urge you to whip Labour MPs to abstain in any parliamentary vote approving/rejecting his Brexit deal, but explain that if it were not for potential Tory rebels who threaten a no deal crash out, Labour would be voting against it.

Best regards

Optional add ons

If you are a Labour Party member, please change the the beginning of the first sentence.
If you are also a member of a trade union please mention this.
If you voted to Leave in the 2016 EU referendum and don't want Labour to vote for Boris' Brexit deal please mention this.

Contact details

Keir Starmer: [email protected],