Brexit by default would be a disastrous failure of leadership

As the latest leg of his tour around European capitals shows, instead of talking about the advantages of membership, he is focussed more and more on the area of benefits for migrant workers.

A referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union could be held as early as 2016 (AFP/Getty Images)

The United Kingdom has been a member of the European Union for over forty years now. During that time our economy has become much more intertwined with the EU. It is our biggest export market by far serving as the destination for almost half of the goods we sell overseas. Our membership of the EU makes us attractive for inward investment from all around the world, whether it is Japanese car companies or foreign banks.

All of this keeps British workers in jobs and helps British families pay their bills. It adds to our prosperity and being part of the world’s biggest single market helps us punch above our weight when it comes to dealing with the other major players in the world economy like the United States, China and India.

There are other important benefits too from membership including good employment rights for people at work to research grants for our universities and support for our farmers. Britain is a winner in Europe far more than we might realise.

Yet all of those advantages are being put under threat by the way the Prime Minister is handling the renegotiation he has begun. As the latest leg of his tour around European capitals shows, instead of talking about the advantages of membership, he is focussed more and more on the area of benefits for migrant workers.

While of course there should be fairness in the benefits system – it’s something Labour has argued for – most people who come here from elsewhere in the EU come to work hard and make a positive contribution to our country. Even the Government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility said this week that the Prime Minister’s plan on benefits would make little difference to immigration levels.

Now, the President of the European Council says other countries are against his plan and the Prime Minister responds by flirting with recommending withdrawal from the EU.

Anti EU forces say threatening withdrawal is the only way to get a hearing but who would lose out from carrying through the threat? Certainly the EU would be worse off without the UK’s influence but the British companies, workers and areas that need inward investment would lose out too. In making this threat we are holding a gun to our own heads.

That’s why Labour has refused to be sucked into the Prime Minister’s renegotiation process. We believe there is a broader case for membership way beyond the narrow terms of what the Prime Minister is asking for. That case is based on jobs, trade, investment and employment rights, as well as the shared values and increased clout of being part of a single market of 500m people. Of course the EU isn’t perfect, no institution is. Labour is and remains a strong proponent of European reform and we always will be. But reform is a continuous and meaningful process rather than a one off event as the Prime Minister seems to think.

United behind continued membership, we will exercise the leadership on this issue that a divided Conservative Party cannot. We are already out there arguing the case for continued membership and will continue to do so.

If we rest our future entirely on the Prime Minister’s renegotiation we could end up making a judgement about our European future based on a narrow set of reforms that might make little difference to future migration patterns. Ultimately, our membership is not just about access to tax credits and the Prime Minister has got himself in a tangle of his own choosing.

Brexit by design is one thing – a conscious move out of the EU with all that would entail. But Brexit by default – recommending a future the Prime Minister does not want because he has not gotten his way over one specific issue – would be a disastrous failure of leadership.

When the referendum comes it will be the broad case for and against membership that will be in voters’ minds. The Prime Minister needs to bring the renegotiation to a conclusion as quickly as possible and get on with making that broader case.

Pat McFadden is MP for Wolverhampton South East