The Labour Party and European integration since 1989

The UK’s membership of the European Union hangs in the balance. Prime Minister David Cameron knows that if Labour voters do not turn up en masse at polling stations on 23 June 2016, the UK is likely to withdraw from the EU.

So, where Labour stands and how hard its leader, MPs, members and activists campaign is a matter of central importance in what is rightly described as the most consequential decision that voters will make for decades.

Instead of taking a historical perspective, the purpose of this blog post is to shed light on the party’s attitude towards European integration since Jacques Delors’ decisive speech at the TUC congress in 1988. It argues that today’s prevailing ‘pro-Europeanism’ within Labour is much deeper than it has ever been, which simultaneously reflects broader, growing awareness that European integration is not neutral in an ideological, economic, political, social sense.

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

ESO: Background information: Jeremy Corbyn Can Stop The March Of The Anti-European Right http://www.europeansources.info/record/jeremy-corbyn-can-stop-the-march-of-the-anti-european-right/

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