Labour Against a EUropean Superstate

No sooner had Blair agreed the final amendments to the draft and as good as 'signed' the EU Constitution than...

Labour EUrosceptics met on Monday 21 June, 2004 to form an anti-treaty campaign group, Labour Against a Superstate, to start the anti-treaty fight amongst Blair's own backbenchers.

From the left the key players include Mr. Ian Davidson, 53-year-old MP for Glasgow Pollok since 1992, and John Cryer, MP for Hornchurch in Essex who shares the EUrosceptic views of his mother, Ann Cryer MP for Keighley, and his late father, Bob Cryer MP, a close ally of Dennis Skinner.

Further to the right on most issues, but also willing to put their heads above the parapet, are the likes of Frank Field, the veteran social security expert, Kate Hoey, and Roger Godsiff, the MP for Birmingham.

Dennis Skinner, Denzil Davies, Gwyneth Dunwoody and Austin Mitchell, sceptics in the 70s, all remain so. But they have differing analyses. Mr. Davidson's main concern recently was for the protection and enhancement of workers' rights and opportunities against "the bosses' Europe".

Two former Labour ministers have attacked the Constitution, with one predicting the issue could spell the end of Mr. Blair's leadership.

Former sports minister Kate Hoey said backbenchers who had been told to "go and hide in a dark room" by ministers would now emerge to show their feelings on the issue.

"More and more Labour MPs will be feeling that they really have to do what's in the interests of the country."

"In my personal view that would be to campaign very strongly against the Constitution," she said.

She added that it would be "quite scandalous" for taxpayers' money to be spent campaigning for a Yes vote in the referendum.

Former social security minister Frank Field said Mr. Blair should hold a referendum on the constitution before a general election.

Mr. Field, MP for Birkenhead and a market-oriented moderniser, dismisses the EU model as "backward-looking, a 1940s perspective when we believed central planning could solve our problems. If we can only derail this constitution I can't imagine countries subjected to communism for 50 years will embrace Brussels."

A huge part of the Labour vote remained "deeply suspicious" over the issue, he said.

"If we're not careful it might take another prime minister out," he added.

Scottish Labour MP Ian Davidson and provisional chairman of Labour Against a Superstate said "There will be 20 or 30 of us, though other MPs who say they will support us have no good reason to ruin their ministerial prospects right now when the referendum may never come to pass." 

"The constitution is another drive towards centralisation," he said.

He added, however, that unlike the Tories and UKIP, his group would not be calling for an immediate referendum, in order to avoid splitting Labour before the general election.

Other well known Labour Backbench EUrosceptics include:

Mark Fisher - a former arts minister and a regular rebel. He doesn't like the EUro either!

Diane Abbott - one of many opponents of EUropean integration from Labour's left

Denzil Davies - a long-serving critic of the EU

Austin Mitchell - the Grimsby MP who is noted for his anti-EU rhetoric

Dennis Skinner - who once quipped that he "agreed with Thatcher on EUrope if nothing else!"

Updating now the General Election has passed...  Blair has scraped back in with the lowest share of the popular vote in recent history and a vastly reduced majority in the Commons.  Now the gloves are set to come off.  A few of Blair's returned MPs did quietly slip their NO position into their election addresses and now their self-proclaimed truce during the General Election campaign has come to an end.  Ian Davidson has called for a referendum within the Labour Party to determine how Labour's own internal funds should be distributed in the campaign.

"Clearly it's going to be unreasonable that the Labour Party puts its whole money behind the "yes" side. The way in which you determine proportion is by having some kind of internal referendum."

Kate Hoey, the Vauxhall MP, said the issue would be '"decided by Labour supporters" but offers little realistic hope for Blair to turn round what she sees as a strong anti-EU feeling in the UK.

"I can't see a scenario where within a year the PM can turn around what I think is a latent anti-constitution feeling among most people, particularly strong among Labour voters."

Clearly both sides are now waiting for the referendum results from France on 29 May, 2005 and The Netherlands on 01 June, 2005.  But we only have to wait three more weeks...

More as this develops - but it is clear that Anti-EU unrest is just as damaging to the split Labour Party as EUrophile unrest is damaging to the split Conservative Party.

Expect more and more support from 'professional politicians' for UKIP's simple clear message that nothing less than complete withdrawal from the EU will do!

Last edited:  Sunday, 08 May 2005