Meeting with our MP Marsha de Cordova re. Brexit – 7pm Thursday 21st – 5 places available

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GuyD73
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Meeting with our MP Marsha de Cordova re. Brexit – 7pm Thursday 21st – 5 places available

Postby GuyD73 » Wed Feb 20, 2019 1:42 pm

I will be meeting my MP tomorrow evening to talk about the Labour leadership’s position on Brexit and how Corbyn has failed MPs, party members and voters. While I’m pleased that Marsha has defied the leadership to come out in favour of a People’s Vote, it won’t matter, if the front bench retains their dishonest position, so I’d like to know what she plans to do, in a variety of circumstances, over the next 6 weeks.

I will also be asking her to encourage local Labour councillors to bring a neutral motion within the council calling for a public vote on Brexit, and asking her advice on how concerned Wandsworth residents can best contribute to this issue. I attach below an email sent to me by Labour Remain recently, specifically about Wandsworth Council, which some of you might find of interest.

If any of you whose views broadly dovetail with mine, would like to come along to this meeting – you must live in the Battersea constituency and send me your full name and address (and email to confirm) ASAP please. I will be supplying those details to Marsha’s Parliamentary office at 6pm ish today to give them time to check the electoral roll, so be quick! Location is PCS Building, 160 Falcon Rd, London SW11 2LN at 7pm, which is right next to CJ station.When you press the buzzer please go to the reception desk and inform the staff member that you are here for the MP surgery. 

f you can’t come but might like to help local groups campaign at a local level for a motion to be brought within Wandsworth Council, then please comment, or send me your number if you’d like a chat. Best wishes to all, keep fighting the good fight. Thank you. Guy


 Local pro-EU activists are trying to get Wandsworth Council to pass a motion supporting a People's Vote.   If you know any Wandsworth Labour Councillors, it might be worthwhile to email them and ask if they might support this motion. There is an opportunity to have Wandsworth Council debate and pass a motion in favour of a People's Vote on Brexit with the option to Remain at its meeting on 6 March. Step 1 would be for the Labour Group to resolve to put forward such a motion. I ask that you please write to your Labour councillors. The Labour group will meet on 28 February. They will need proposals for Council motions to go in well before then so that the leadership can consider which to debate. So we will need to move quickly to influence them. Councillors will wish to be sure that their constituents are keen for them to discuss Brexit rather than focus exclusively on local issues. As you probably know, fourteen boroughs have already called for a referendum on Brexit as well as the Mayor and the London Assembly. Our latest newsletter gives details I won't pretend that the odds are in our favour. Wandsworth Council in a less formal adjournment debate on 17 October 2018 rejected the idea of a referendum.  No Conservative Council in London has yet come out in favour of a referendum. However, some individual Conservative councillors have when the motion was put forward by other parties, eg in Camden and Greenwich. Justine Greening and both Labour MPs have come out for a People's Vote. Through your efforts you have made LB Wandsworth a strong Remain area with an active and visible campaigning presence. The national debate has moved on considerably since October. There will be all the build-up publicity for the next great march on 23 March. So there is a chance. And what a result if it comes though, especially while the government would be preparing its position for the European Council 21-22 March. I think it is worth a go.  Actions to take Later on if a motion is put down I would suggest you write to your councillors of whatever party. I'll let you know once I am told what the Labour Group decide. But for now I would ask you to  write today or in the next couple of days to your own ward councillors if these are Labour; and to all other Labour Group councillors or at least to the leader (Cllr Simon Hogg), deputy leader (Cllr Jo Rigby) and chief whip (Cllr James Daley). If you live in their constituencies, I would suggest that you ask your Labour MP to lobby Labour councillors (Marsha De Cordova MP (Battersea)Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP (Tooting)). If you are not sure who your MP is you can enter your postcode here. The LB Wandsworth page of councillor contact details is here. If you are not sure which ward you are in you can search by postcode here.  Suggestions to get you started I have been told that standard letters are largely disregarded by councillors. So the more that can make your e-mail personal to you, the better. You can also tailor it to the  views of your councillors, if you know them. However, if it inspires you, our blog has a model letter and list of boroughs that have already voted in favour. Otherwise, just to get you started some text and arguments that you might like to draw on include:
  • I ask that the Labour Group puts forward a simple motion for debate at the 6 March 2019 Borough Council meeting calling on the Council to support a referendum on Brexit with the option to Remain (People's Vote). The motion should be expressed in the least  contentious terms.
  • Brexit is the biggest issue facing both the UK and Wandsworth. It would impact the happiness of the borough's citizens. It would affect the ability of the Council to fulfil its functions. If Brexit went ahead, Government would not have the time to address any issue that matters to councils other than implementing Brexit.
  • Debating the need for a referendum on the terms of Brexit with the option to Remain (People's Vote, public vote) would show that councillors addressed both local issues and the key national issues affecting the borough and their constituents. Bins and Brexit.
  • Fourteen London boroughs have passed a motion in favour of a referendum, as has the London Assembly. The Mayor of London has called for a People's Vote. Why is Remain-voting Wandsworth lagging behind?
  • In order to have a motion that councillors from all parties can support it should be as neutrally worded as possible. This is not the time for making political points. It should be a simple call for the Council to back a referendum on Brexit with the option to Remain. 
  • In Camden and Greenwich some Conservative councillors backed pro-referendum motions put down by other parties.
  • A referendum is about giving the same electorate as started this process in 2016 the chance to have the final say.
  • A call for a referendum would not be taking sides on Brexit. The Brexits now on offer were not being put forward in 2016. All voters, no matter how they voted, should have the chance to say whether they like the Brexit plan.
  • The case for a referendum is simple: no-one takes a project from idea to implementation without a review of the project plan.
  • Because there is now a Brexit plan, a referendum in 2019 would answer a different question from 2016, when the Leave campaign did not put forward a settled plan for Brexit.
  • A general election could not resolve Brexit: the issue cuts across party lines. An election chooses the next government - it does not settle a single-policy question. 
  • Wandsworth voted 75% Remain in 2016. Opinion polls tell us the proportion has risen since then.
 I do hope that you will write to your Labour councillors to urge them to call for a referendum on Brexit with the option to Remain. Best wishes  
London 4 Europe
http://www.london4europe.co.uk/
 
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