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A Brexit for workers not for bosses

@SWP_Britain 020 7840 5600 membership@swp.org.ukwww.swp.org.uk ‘Socialist Worker (Britain)’

The Brexit crisisThe formal process of Britain leaving the European Union has begun. Short of political upheaval, Brexit is happening. The task is to shape it.

However we voted in the referendum last June, we now have to work together to beat back the right and seize the opportunities available.

Trade unions and the Labour Party need to fight for a left Brexit, a Brexit that strengthens working class people and their organisations against bosses everywhere.

The referendum vote last June has led to a major crisis for the British ruling class. Most big bosses wanted Britain to stay in the EU. Moreover, capitalists like certainty. Market stability means they can predict how much money their investments will make and how their businesses will fare. The Leave vote created huge uncertainty.

People voted to leave the EU for many reasons. We in the Socialist Workers Party campaigned to make the leave vote a rejection of the EU as a racist bosses’ club.

For many it was simply, in Diane Abbott’s words, a “roar of defiance against the Westminster elite”.

But the Tory government has worked hard to impose the most reactionary possible interpretation of the vote, as a racist rejection of foreigners, migrants, and refugees.

Millions of EU citizens who have made Britain their home are now faced with losing their rights to live and work here when Britain leaves the EU.

What the Tories wantThe Tories are divided. A majority of MPs and ministers voted to remain in the EU, but now Boris Johnson and other Brexiteers in the cabinet are pushing for a “hard Brexit” that breaks completely with the EU and turns Britain into a free-market island that will attract bosses from around the world who want no restrictions on how to invest money and exploit workers.

Theresa May decided that Brexit means first of all ending free movement for workers from the rest of the EU. This makes it very hard to avoid a hard Brexit. But the big banks and corporations based in Britain are desperate to retain access to the huge European single market.

May is trying to balance between them and the Tory right, promising a hard Brexit without tears that will somehow retain the economic benefits bosses get from being in the EU.

This promise will soon come unstuck. The rift in the Tories over the EU has

existed for decades, and is likely to re-emerge during the negotiations with EU leaders, as it becomes increasingly clear that May cannot deliver.

The Tories’ tiny parliamentary majority could rapidly be endangered.

But Labour is hardly in any better shape over Brexit.

Some Labour MPs are more concerned with seeking to overturn or block the

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Staff at University College Hospital in London show solidarity with EU nationals

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JOIN THE SOCIALISTSThe Socialist Workers Party works with everyone who opposes austerity, racism and war. We defend Jeremy Corbyn against the Labour right. But we believe the real power to get rid of this lousy system—capitalism—lies outside parliament. Our power is in the workplaces, the colleges, in working class communities and on the streets. For more information or to join us, please get in touch. Call/text: 07986 936 094 or join online: swp.org.uk/forms/join-swp

Leave vote than they are with trying to shape what sort of Brexit emerges.

MPs and trade union leaders who campaigned to stay in the EU are now pressing Jeremy Corbyn to stop defending freedom of movement for European workers. They accept the idea that the vote to leave was motivated by racism and want to capitulate to the scapegoating of migrants and refugees driven by the Tory government and media.

The Labour right’s attacks on Corbyn have made it harder for Labour to oppose the Tory agenda around Brexit.

The need for an alternativeThe referendum on the EU deeply divided the British left. But whatever stand we take on the EU, we can unite in opposing the kind of racist and neoliberal Brexit the Tories are driving towards. We can also agree that the austerity policies imposed since 2010 have been feeding racism.

The working class movement can seize hold of the debate and stop Brexit being dominated by varieties of toxic Tory solutions.

We can fight for a working class solution that hits the Tories when they are vulnerable. This requires a package of progressive policies that halt and reverse austerity and put the priority on raising living standards and maintaining and improving public services.

The EU doesn’t defend workers and their rights, but that doesn’t mean we should allow Brexit to be used to make our conditions worse.

The crisis of the EU will continue. Yet more austerity is being imposed on countries like Greece, and the far right is exploiting the anger these policies are producing in elections in the Netherlands, France, and Germany.

The fight for a different kind of Brexit, which rejects racism and austerity, can win allies elsewhere in Europe.

BREXIT DEMANDSDefend migrants, defend freedom of movementDefend and extend the rights of migrants and refugees. Full and indefinite rights guaranteed for all EU nationals. Maintain freedom of movement for all workers from the European Economic Area. Reciprocal arrangements for UK citizens. Let in all refugees, stop scapegoating and deportations

Guaranteed rights and fundingNo reductions in workplace, social or equality rights. Guarantee continued funding for all social projects funded by EU money.

Increase progressive taxation on the rich Finance extra spending by a shift to progressive taxation that makes the rich pay and a clampdown on tax avoidance and evasion by the rich

Oppose austerity and attacks on workplace rightsNo more cuts and the reversal of those that have been imposed since 2010. Abolish benefit sanctions. Immediate implementation of a £10 an hour minimum wage. End the ‘flexible’ working arrangements that force workers into low-paid jobs. Reverse anti-trade union laws

No trade deals that stop nationalisationNo to the single market with its restrictions on nationalisation and drive to deregulate. No to any deals with Trump. No to the return of the TTIP deal or any other that favours the multinationals

Invest in the NHS and public health Fund the NHS: Free healthcare for all. Stop the privatisation of the health service.

Housing for allBuild one million new council homes. Abolish the council tax and replace with a progressive local income tax. Introduce rent controls and a progressive wealth tax. Scrap the right to buy and the bedroom tax.

Tough action on climate changeEffective action on climate change, a ban on fracking and an agriculture policy focused on access to good-quality affordable food and environmental protection. Support the call for One Million Climate Jobs.

Equality for allResist all attacks on the Human Rights Act. No ‘Henry VIII’ clause that allows ministers rather than elected MPs to rewrite EU law. Extend the powers and provisions of the Equalities Act. Reverse the cuts in disability benefits. Abolish the Work Capability Assessment. Increase pensions and benefit rates.

Invest in public transportEnd the privatisation and deregulation of public transport, renationalise all rail networks, train and bus services.

Referendums on Scottish independence and Irish unityBrexit raises the issue of the unity of the British state. People in Scotland should have a choice on whether to stay part of it—unlinked from EU membership. The people of Ireland also should have the opportunity to decide in a referendum to end the partition of the island.

Internationalism and global solidarityFor internationalism and solidarity with workers across the world. Full support for all struggles against austerity and racism.