By Bev Haigh-Jones
For the last eight years, Cornwall for Europe have been campaigning against the policies and actions of a government that devised and supported Brexit. Now, with a new government in power, we needed to take stock and decide: “What next?”
Of course, our ultimate goal of the UK rejoining the EU hasn’t changed. We will be supporting the next National Rejoin March in September and it would be great if we could get even more supporters along with us on our coach this time – we need to show the Labour government just how strong the feeling behind rejoin really is!
So that’s our ultimate goal, but what should be the route to get there?
The Labour Party election campaign was deliberately coy, it seems, when it came to their exact intentions with regard to the UK/EU relationship, saying on the one hand that they would look to renegotiate the terms of the agreement, while on the other hand Keir Starmer stated that we would not rejoin the single market or customs union, and that the UK wouldn’t rejoin the EU in his lifetime. That comment in itself was somewhat ambiguous – was he referring to his lifetime as Prime Minister, or his lifetime on earth? Either way, the speed with which David Lammy took flight to Europe after becoming Foreign Secretary seems contrary to Labour’s previous stance. The visit to meet with his counterparts in Germany, Poland and Sweden, had been planned weeks in advance and seemed to show a real enthusiasm on the part of the UK to rekindle a lost friendship.
Still, it’s early days and if we are too demanding with our requests, then the EU will no doubt baulk at the idea that we might expect some kind of preferential treatment. Member benefits come with member responsibilities and commitments – but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There are many benefits that we could undoubtedly negotiate, without the commitment to rejoin the EU at this stage. Having already become part of the Horizon science scheme again, next on the list could be Erasmus+, which we could have retained membership of when we left anyway. Then there was the offer from the EU of free movement for 18-30 year olds which we initially rejected – why? Labour themselves have also said that they would want to negotiate a veterinary agreement to aid the movement of goods across the channel, and there are many more possibilities for improving the situation in the UK, while we await the optimum time to rejoin the Union.
So, having considered all of the above, as well as other aspects of the new political situation in the UK, CfE are back on the campaign trail, but with a slightly different focus. To begin with, we’ve already written to all six of the new Cornish MPs (in fact, we sent this letter the day after the election), introducing ourselves to those who don’t know us already, and letting all of them know that we are looking forward to hearing what steps they and their party will be taking to build a closer UK/EU relationship. We have also asked all of them to provide information to the group for sharing with members, where appropriate, and invited them to speak to members at some stage in the future, if they wish to. There has only been one response so far, but as they are all new to parliament, apart from one, they’ve had a lot to deal with in the last week or so, and will now no doubt be busy trying to set up constituency offices, so it’s no surprise.
Having made initial contact with our MPs, our next plan is to get back on the streets with our stalls. These might have a slightly different focus, as we feel it may be best to focus on one campaign at a time, using them as steps towards the end goal of rejoin. We have yet to agree on our first theme, but we will be on Lemon Quay in Truro on Saturday 17 August from 10.30 am until 1.00 pm, where it would be great to see as many of you as possible. See our events on our website or Facebook group page for full details in due course.
Finally, and as previously mentioned, we are hoping to arrange further talks like those with Molly Scott Cato and Dominic Grieve, so do keep a lookout for any announcements regarding these, as well as notification regarding coaches to the National Rejoin March, which is hopefully taking place on 28 September (date to be confirmed).
