Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Jeremy Corbyn’s speech on the EU referendum * Corbyn’s EU speech - Verdict 1.21pm BST We are now expecting to get the decision about whether Grassroots Out (GO) will launch a legal challenge against the Electoral Commission’s decision not to make it the lead Leave campaign after 3pm, my colleague Rowena Mason reports. Originally the decision was due before noon. Now expecting Leave.EU statement about whether they will judicially review designation after 3pm... 1.15pm BST You can read the full text of Jeremy Corbyn’s speech here but, as I said earlier, the best material was in the Q&A. Here are the key quotes from it. There’s nothing half-hearted about what we are doing. There is nothing half-hearted about our campaigning. There is nothing half-hearted about our alliances. I’ve attended a number of meetings of the Party of European Socialists. I’ve had lengthy conversations with prime ministers and party leaders all across Europe on the social justice case, the environmental case, issues of climate change, trade and steel. I’ve made numerous speeches on these subjects. There is nothing half-hearted about what we are doing. We are putting forward a political agenda about social justice in this country, driving down tax evasion in this country, but we are also putting the international case on human rights and justice and social justice all across Europe. That is what we’re doing. You’ll hear plenty from us on this. There is nothing half-hearted about anything I do. Yes, I’ve been critical of many things within the European Union. I think you have probably gathered from my speech I’ve criticisms of the European Union. This is a decision about whether we stay in and argue for the kind of socially just Europe that I want, that our party wants, that the vast majority of trade unions and ordinary people of this country want. Or we walk away from it. That’s the decision that has been made. Does it mean I recant on everything I have ever said or done? Absolutely not. I’m sorry about that. We’ve had a very big debate within the Labour party and within trade unions. Overwhelming the Labour party and trade unions have come to the view that they wato to campaign for a social, just Europe ... That is the position we’ve reached. That is the position that has been adopted by the party. That is the party that I lead and that is the position I’m putting forward. I want to be part of a government that leads the way on climate change, leads the way on air quality, leads the way on pollution, leads the way on sustainability, leads the way on recycling and stops this attitude that somehow or other everything is expendable, everything is disposable and we can carry on destroying habits and the planet on which we live. Eventually that attitude will destroy us. There has to be an attitude of mind that everyone one of those people that is shuttling now between Turkey and Greece, all those people in refugee camps in Greece, or indeed people in refugee camps in Calais or Dunkirk - they’re all human beings, just like you and me. In a different set of circumstances we could all be in those refugee camps. Therefore I want to be part of a voice demanding a humanitarian and human approach dealing with this, that every European country plays its part, as Germany has done, in supporting and taking refugees so that they can live and contribute ... What I want is an attitude of mind that understands the humanitarian issues. You are not going to solve the refugee crisis with tear gas, barbed wire, electronic surveillance and hatred. You will only solve it by mutual action, support and understanding of the human needs of everyone one of us to survive. And I wish to contribute to a stronger society for everbody else. Continue reading...
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |