About bloody time

So, at long last, Labour have come up with a Brexit policy that is not simply a repetition of the Tories' plans. Time to celebrate that there has been a small step away from the fence on which Labour have been sitting since June 2016. As I write this, Corbyn is yet to make his speech so we will have to await the actual details. Given his anti-EU history, expect any customs union outlined by him to be limited. It must not stand in the way of the socialist revolution and must not block the road to Utopia. Also, expect the same tone to be employed as that adopted by Tory Brexiteers: the EU will give us this, that and the other. Ever since the referendum campaign, Brexiteers have chosen to speak for the EU negotiating team and have made all sorts of pronouncements about what the EU will give Britain. None of these are based on anything the EU has said. Brexiteers are simply offering rights without responsibilities, a cherry-picking exercise in which the UK resigns as a member of the EU club but still enjoys all the benefits of being in the club without abiding by the rules. To be fair to the Brexiteers, politicians offering something for nothing has been a common theme for decades and was especially rife under Blair and especially Brown. It was an attitude that carried over big style into the Corbyn general election manifesto last year in which 90% of the population was offered everything they wanted for free, paid for by a handful of rich people.

So, watch out for this something-for-nothing attitude flowing over into Corbyn's speech today.