Lord Adonis at Warwick: “English middle classes” reluctant to vote for Corbyn

Former Number 10 policy adviser and government minister Lord Andrew Adonis came to Warwick for a Freshers’ Address run by the Warwick Labour Club on 20 October, in which he spoke against Brexit and suggested it could be prevented by a second referendum on the final settlement agreed between Brussels and the UK government.

In the 90-minute talk, the Labour peer spoke mostly concerning Brexit, which he called the “biggest issue” in British politics today, commenting that it is “entirely crazy for us to be leaving.”

Adonis went on to argue that after Brexit, our economic growth, trading prosperity and international cooperation would all be damaged, and that we would have to reconstruct much of our foreign policy and national institutions of government. He also described the UK as the “defence arm of the EU”, adding that Britain leaving was a “recipe for instability” in the rest of Europe.

However, he said that this could be prevented by the House of Lords, where the government does not hold a majority – demanding a referendum as an amendment to the Brexit legislation. While he highlighted his opposition to referenda as instruments of Government, he argued that the only way to undo one referendum was by holding another.

If another referendum was to occur on the deal negotiated by the government, he emphasised the need to focus on communities like those in the North East, where 58% of people voted to leave. By concentrating on jobs, the future for people’s grandchildren and public services, Adonis believed people could be persuaded to vote to stay a member of the EU.

Borrowing a now-familiar phrase from Prime Minster Theresa May, Adonis added that there is “no magic money tree”

During the 2016 campaign, he argued that there was not enough time spent talking to voters about the positives of the EU, and that the Leave campaign made assertions that simply were not true, such as the claim that the UK sends £350 million to the EU each week (the latest figures show that this number was £252 million in 2016).

While official Labour policy backs a so-called soft Brexit with “unimpeded access” to single market, deputy leader Tom Watson has stated that although Party policy is to abide by the referendum and secure an exit deal, “you have to see how the negotiations go, at the end of it. So we’re not ruling it out.”

Borrowing a now-familiar phrase from Prime Minster Theresa May, Adonis added that there is “no magic money tree”, before going on to claim that Labour’s plans for nationalisation were not possible due to the “economic facts of life.”

Labour’s plans to nationalise railways, water, energy and the Royal Mail, announced by the shadow chancellor John McDonnell at last month’s Labour Party Conference, were denounced as undeliverable by Adonis, who went on to criticise the current leadership’s “Marxist” and “hard left” positions.

One audience member challenged his attacks on the party leadership, suggesting that criticisms against the Labour leader have potentially harmful effects on the Party’s image.

Proposals to scrap tuition fees and address levels of student debt were also deemed by the Labour peer to be unachievable, reminding the audience of the note left by the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne in 2010, which famously included the line “I’m afraid there is no money”. He added that today in 2017, there is even less money to go around.

One audience member challenged his attacks on the party leadership, suggesting that criticisms against the Labour leader have potentially harmful effects on the Party’s image. The student argued this created a narrative of Labour as fractious and divided, which may have been a factor in preventing Labour from winning the last election.

In reply, Adonis answered that he believed the Labour Party needed a more moderate leader to take them back into government. He argued that the “English middle classes” would be reluctant to vote for Jeremy Corbyn, but could vote for a more “sensible” leader.

Chair of the University of Warwick Labour Club Julia Pearson commented: “It is Warwick Labour’s policy to invite a broad range of political speakers from the across the party. Following Jeremy’s visit to campus last weekend, it was great to welcome Lord Adonis as a senior Labour Party figure, and to offer a narrative from another political stand-point. We’re proud of the turnout and range of questions asked, and feel it was an event that bred much varied political discussion.”

Lord Adonis also spoke about HS2, the project he led whilst at the Department of Transport. He argued that addi-tional infrastructure in the North is what is needed to help build more houses, join northern cities together and modernise the UK, but none of this would be made more likely by leaving the EU.