Lammy is off again, having another rant about Brexit.
OK David, lets look at some of the points you've raised here...
The audacious idea of European integration was motivated by fear. But it was made possible by shared ideals. Democracy. Human Rights. Equality. Freedom.
Shared ideals of democracy and equality? Let's have a quick history lesson shall we David. The original referendum took us into an economic community and not a political union (Strike one against the shared ideal of democracy). The result of the French referendum on the Lisbon treaty was ignored when they said no and Ireland was made to repeat the process until they said yes. (Strike 2). They may have done a piss poor job while in power but the democratically elected governments of Greece and Italy were ousted by what can only be described as an economic coup, and we all saw the news reports of what happened in Greece in the aftermath (Strike 3, you're out).
Plus let's not forget that the basic foundation of a democratic society is that the government is directly accountable to the electorate as the first past the post rules mean that if enough people vote for an opposing party then an unpopular government can be replaced. So let's look at the EU, the electorate can vote for their MEP but after that it's completely different as first past the post doesn't exist here. Instead the various blocs of MEP's carry out horse trading and backroom deals in order to secure votes instead. There is no accountability to the electorate at other then their MEP getting replaced.
After the Second World War, in 1946, Winston Churchill said this:
“If Europe were once united in the sharing of its common inheritance, there would be no limit to its happiness, prosperity and glory.”
But today some Conservative colleagues talk about “total independence” from Europe as though it is a virtue.
Let me remind them: Churchill understood the European dream is to build a whole bigger than the sum of its parts. He understood that it is about pooling sovereignty. Working together. Sharing Control.
Happiness, prosperity and glory. Try telling that to Spain (highest youth unemployment rate in Europe), Greece and Italy.
Yes, Churchill understood that the whole is bigger than the sum of it's parts but he would have likely baulked at what the European dream has now become.
Let us now be honest with the country.
Total independence is a fantasy. It is the same idea that motivates an angry teenager to run away from their family. Total independence means throwing a tantrum and ending up in the cold.
Total independence is selfishness. It is individualism, arrogance, superiority, a refusal to work together, and the break-down of the common good.
Total independence will not solve our problems. Total independence will lead to total isolation.
An interesting definition of honest there David. You make it sound like the moment Brexit finally comes through then the UK version of the Maginot line will suddenly appear and we will have no contact whatsoever with Europe. Businesses will still trade with and in Europe, people will still take holidays over there, and in cases of common interest the government will try to work with the EU just not as a supplicant.
We thrived by sharing our sovereignty, not by stockpiling it.
Our NATO membership compels us to deploy soldiers when our fellow members are attacked.
The Paris Climate Accord is an agreement that demonstrates how we tackle global threats together, not alone.
Even our membership of the WTO commits the UK to supra-national regulation and arbitration of its own.
Mr Speaker, Sovereignty is not an asset to be hoarded. It is a resource which only has value when it is spent.
Firstly NATO is completely separate from the EU although in amongst the increasing grasp for power within the EU we are now seeing senior political figures calling for the formation of an EU army, something that I believe that remainers told us was never going to be on the cards.
The Paris Climate Accord wasn't an EU exclusive treaty, something you seem to have either forgotten or are so clueless when it comes to geography that you didn't realise that fact.
When those on the other side of this debate say they want Empire 2.0, let us ask: what does that mean?
What was imperialism? What was colonialism? Let us not forget this today.
At its worst, the British Empire was exploitation and subjugation.
Moral superiority that led to putting humans in shackles.
The oppression of black and brown people because this country thought it knew best.
Have we forgotten that those countries once coloured pink on the globe were not won in negotiations? Have we forgotten that they were taken by force?
When the hell has anyone said they wanted Empire 2.0? I can honestly say that before your speech I had never heard that phrase uttered by anybody.
You say that at it's worst the British Empire was exploitation, subjugation and slavery but let's be honest here so were the empires built up by the other European powers at that time. Not to mention the fact that it was Britain that first moved to outlaw and combat slavery.
The Brexiteer promise to Take Back Control in 2016 was nothing more than a deluded fantasy. A lie that divided friends and families.
A lie that pandered to racism and xenophobia.
And a lie that caused an extra six hundred and thirty eight Hate Crimes per month.
Was it the lie as you describe it that caused the extra hate crimes to be reported or the broadening of the definition of what is a hate crime. Something that had now reached the point that South Yorkshire Constabulary have now asked people to report "Non crime hate incidents" a term with such a vague definition that something as innocuous as calling BM a dozy bugger when he told us about spilling wine in his laptop would count. Not to mention the fact that things like the rampant knife violence in London between rival gangs has also skewed the figure you have quoted. I'm not saying that there aren't racist arseholes out there who have started on people but you have to be deluded to think that it was a single issue that set things off.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/south-yorkshire-police-relentlessly-mocked-after-urging-people-to-report-one-another-for-offensive-a3932131.htmlThe founder of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie, spoke of socialism’s “promise of freedom”, its “larger hope for humanity”, and of “binding the races of the earth into one all-embracing brotherhood”
To my good friends in the Party, those who are still wavering, I ask honestly: can you really vote for this politics of division and hate?
Can you really vote to slash workers’ rights and protections?
Can you vote to give tax avoiders a sanctuary? Can you vote to hand over more power to the clumsy hand of the market?
The politics of division and hate? Are you seriously trying to take the moral high ground given the huge amount of coverage that has been in the media about the many cases of anti semitism within the Labour party. People in glass houses and all that.
Where is your proof that leaving the EU will automatically mean the government scraps workers rights and protections, you are forgetting that these workers are the same people who have a voice when the next election comes around and would punish anyone who strips them of those rights.
As for giving tax avoiders a sanctuary, that isn't something exclusive to the Tories. Let's be honest here, companies like Amazon and Google were given the soft treatment by successive governments no matter which party was in control.
As for handing over powers to the 'clumsy hand of the market' then in certain cases I would have to say yes. Why? The simple answer is that the market understands that in order for them to remain healthy businesses they can't just screw over the consumer as there will always be someone else to provide an alternative.
Mr Speaker, what I’m about to say is not fashionable – but our country’s story of renewal through Europe is a story of immigration.
We grew as a nation because of free movement.
European migrants are not “citizens of nowhere” or “queue jumpers” as the Prime Minister would have us believe. Young, energetic, diverse and willing to pay taxes, EU citizens have given so much. They have done the jobs that our own would not do.
Around 3.8m now live in Britain. Over their lifetimes, they pay in £78,000 more than they take out.
It's not about European migration, it's about the hypocrisy of the EU member states who signed up to Shengen and then ignored their responsibilities under that agreement. Even if you are stupid enough to believe that someone waved a magic wand and all the illegal migrants suddenly appeared on the French coast then it would still be the responsibility of France to take them in. But as we saw from the camps that sprang up that was clearly ignored.
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2018/12/david-lammy-s-speech-commons-britain-did-not-become-great-total-isolation
