Cardiff Labour MPs have welcomed Jeremy Corbyn’s support for a People’s Vote. How does this reflect Cardiff’s attitudes towards another referendum?
People’s Vote protest in Westminster – September, 2018 (Image: ChiralJon, Flickr)The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced on Monday that his party would support a People’s Vote should their plan to pass an amended Brexit deal fail to get through Parliament.
Labour’s amended deal, an alternative to Theresa May’s own deal, did fail to pass through Parliament yesterday. This means the Party will now fully support a second referendum on Brexit.
“This is a significant and welcome announcement from Keir Starmer and Jeremy Corbyn,” says Stephen Doughty, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth.
“It’s clear the PM’s Brexit shambles cannot continue – it’s time this issue went back to the people for a final say.”
“If I was Jeremy Corbyn, I would be thinking, ‘do I want to implement my manifesto?’” says Jo Stevens, MP for Cardiff Central (Image: Wikimedia Commons)Corbyn’s announcement came after weeks of intense pressure from his own party, including from Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer and MPs here in Cardiff, to back another vote.
Doughty and fellow Labour MPs Jo Stevens (Cardiff Central) and Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) have all made passionate cases for a second referendum, and their impassioned stance on Europe reflects shifting opinions within their constituencies and Wales as a whole.
“There’s some fantastic stuff in the [Labour Party] manifesto, but we won’t be able to do any of the stuff we want to do if we are out of the European Union,” said Jo Stevens at an event last week, “If I was Jeremy Corbyn, I would be thinking, ‘do I want to implement my manifesto?’”
“I warmly welcome this announcement,” says Anna McMorrin, “The only sensible and democratic way forward is to put this back to the people.”
“I’m deeply saddened by the state of politics, by this situation that we have got ourselves into” – Anna McMorrin speaks at an event organised by Labour for a People’s Vote last week.These constituencies, plus the final Cardiff Labour constituency of Kevin Brannan’s Cardiff West, have polled in favour of another referendum.
A poll conducted by YouGov in November showed that support for a people’s vote in Cardiff was as follows: Cardiff Central – 70.3%, Cardiff North – 59.5%, Cardiff South & Penarth – 63.7%, Cardiff West – 63%.
Attitudes in Wales as a whole are similar, with 55% of voters indicating they would now vote Remain, while only 45% would vote Leave.
Doughty, McMorrin and Stevens are firmly in the Remain camp, agreeing that Brexit would have a negative impact in their constituencies.
The campaign for another referendum is gearing in Cardiff this weekend, with hundreds of campaigners expected to turn out for ‘March for Europe’ in the city centre on Saturday afternoon.
Support for a People’s Vote across Wales, according to the most recent YouGov poll: