The Labour leadership contest is in full swing and with only a few days to go before the members ballot drop and they get their chance to vote and have their say, I have decided to write a formal endorsement of Rebecca Long-Bailey.
I believe that the main reason for our awful defeat in the 2019 General Election was the awful Brexit policy we landed on when we decided to endorse a second referendum on Brexit and I don't believe we lost this election on our socialist policies or the manifesto that we put forward to the country.
One mistake Labour made on the manifesto was the way it was presented as we could of presented our policies in a more deliverable way for the public. The biggest issue of the 2019 General Election was Brexit and Boris's policy on brexit was three words which worked fantastic as a campaign slogan and we had three paragraphs, which didn't work so well.
We tried to compromise with the side of the party that wanted a second referedum on Brexit but it turns out you cannot promise with the British people on such a massive issue for our country. The British people wanted Labour to take a side, either leave or remain and we picked the wrong side as it was clear that leaving the EU had a general consensus of acceptance with the British people. We lost the northern red wall as a result, british areas with a history of voting Labour deserted us over the Brexit issue because of the stance that we took.
It became impossible to try and get other issues on the agenda such as the NHS, housing, education, Tory austerity and Universal Credit because Brexit dominated the political discussion and this election was all about Brexit.
I believe Rebecca Long-Bailey knows what went wrong in the last election, argued against a second referendum policy in the shadow cabinet for the entire time and this is, in my opinion, the greatest argument to why she should be the next leader.
Now is not the time to water down our socialist policies and move Labour to the centre-ground and ditch a huge chunk of our manifesto, we need someone who will be able to connect with the British people again, especially working class northerners to regain the red wall and Rebecca is the one to do that, she doesn't just represent the working class of this country, she is the working class of this country.
As far as I am concerned, the chicken coup launched against Jeremy Corbyn in 2016 after the result of the EU referendum did the party irreversible harm and damaged our electability and was one of the main reasons why we didn't quite achieve in the 2017 General Election and every Labour MP who participated in that attack against Jeremy Corbyn should be ashamed of themselves. With the elimination of Emily Thornberry after she failed to receive enough support, Rebecca Long-Bailey is the only one of the leadership candidates left in the running who did not participate in the coup and we cannot reward bad behaviour within the Labour party.
The Labour party need to be a party for the working class and under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour reclaimed its socialist routes and re-adopted socialist policies and became a real left-wing movement which went toe to toe with the Tories and we almost toppled them from power in 2017, and the only difference in 2019 was our unelectable Brexit policy which Keir Starmer was at the helm of. We gave in to the right of the party is what I am trying to say, the right of the party that never wanted Jeremy to win. Rebecca Long-Bailey is the candidate that we can trust with our socialist policies and with the democracy of our party.
Rebecca made headlines when she announced her support for open selection for parliamentary elections, which is already seen at council selection level for Labour councillors. Rebecca has always supported the rights of the Palestinian people and their right to self governance and self determination and has been critial of the Israeli government's atacks on the Palestinian people.
Together we can take Labour back into government and create real change but only if we stick to our socialist policies and principles to create real change right across this country.
Good luck, Rebecca Long-Bailey!
