Labour In for Britain (or Labour In) was the
Labour Party campaign to put forward a “progressive” case for Remain during the
2016 United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
.
It was launched by former
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...
and
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP Alan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007, Secretary of State for Health from 2007 to 2009, Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010, and Shadow Chanc ...
on 1 December 2015 who was asked by
Acting Leader Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabi ...
earlier in the year to set up the group and was run separately to the cross party
Britain Stronger in Europe
Britain Stronger in Europe (formally The In Campaign Limited) was an advocacy group which campaigned in favour of the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union in the 2016 British referendum. It was launched at the Old Trum ...
Campaign.
Johnson said that events such as the
November 2015 Paris Attacks showed a greater need for
European Integration and greater cooperation between
European Union Member States and that a vote to leave the European Union would result in
isolationism, and “expose the country to greater risks”.
The Labour Party has been broadly
Pro European in recent years, with a vast proportion of the
Parliamentary Labour Party
In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...
advocates of membership of the EU and of the campaign. This contrasts starkly with sources suggesting that the former Labour Leader
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
and other senior leadership figures are privately
Eurosceptic and want the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
Although Corbyn supported the Pro EU Campaign “to defend investment, defend jobs, defend workers’ rights and defend our environment”, prominent members including the chair of its parliamentary branch,
Phil Wilson, subsequently criticised Corbyn for trying to “weaken and sabotage” the campaign.
See also
*
Labour Leave
References
External links
*
2015 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organisations associated with the Labour Party (UK)
Organizations established in 2015
2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
European Union–related advocacy groups in the United Kingdom
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