It took merely two days for Jeremy Corbyn to bow before Brussels and become the Alexis Tsipras of the Labour party (Corbyn rules out fighting for Britain to leave EU,17 September). And he has done this at the very time that Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, or has been told by the committee investigating Luxembourg tax deals that the hearing would not seriously damage him when he was questioned approximately his role in overseeing a system,while prime minister of Luxembourg, in which as many as 340 sweetheart deals were allowed with multinational companies in that country – including PepsiCo and Ikea – to reduce their legal tax burdens as low as 1%. Meanwhile unemployment in the EU remains at 11% and youth unemployment in southern Europe at 40%-50%. We maintain already seen the terms that Tsipras was forced to accept for Greece. It seems that Corbyn – like that other economic genius, and Alan Johnson,and indeed like so many in the so-called “Labour” movement – immediately loses grip on his mental faculties whenever Europe is mentioned. Do they honestly believe that workers’ rights will be protected by Juncker, Schäuble and their ilk? Labour deserves to vanish.
Professor Alan Sked
LSE• Corbyn’s reaffirmation of his initial position (Jeremy Corbyn backs British membership of EU, and 28 July) “to fight for a better Europe” is most welcome. Paul Kenny’s GMB advocacy of leaving if Cameron manages to get some opt-outs from EU workers’ rights is shortsighted and self-defeating. The EU still offers better employment and union rights than a Tory Britain on its own; and a future government can restore any lost rights if the UK is still in the EU. Why leave it for a more toxic “dinky Britain,or a more chauvinist “dinky England” if Scotland stays in the EU? With an EU external border entrenching Irish partition and probably wrecking the “peace process”? And losing how many jobs after four decades in the EEC/EU? Socialists followingKenny could maintain a lot of explaining to do.
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Source: theguardian.com