GMB union backs referendum on final terms of Brexit
Written by News on 04/09/2018
The GMB union, which represents 639,000 workers, has come out in support for a referendum on the final Brexit deal.
General secretary Tim Roache said that promises made during 2016 campaign were “not the reality we are facing”.
He added that just as the union ballots members on negotiated settlements made on their behalf, so should the government get approval from the public for an EU exit plan agreed with Brussels.
GMB is thought to be the fourth-biggest trade union in Britain, and represents workers in nearly all industrial sectors, and others including retail, security and schools.
Mr Roache made the announcement in a video message, saying it was “infuriating sitting on the sidelines” watching Brexit negotiations “because there is so much at stake”.
He said he respected the 2016 result – in which 51.9% voted Leave – but that “how we leave the EU is as important as the decision to leave in the first place”.
The public “did not vote for economic chaos or to put jobs and hard-won rights on the line”, he insisted.
“A Tory hard Brexit would be a disaster for GMB members,” he said.
“The government need to know they have to come back and face the music. They can’t sell working people down the river.”
The move will pile pressure on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has said he is not calling for another referendum.
Mr Corbyn, whose party receives substantial donations from the GMB union, faces calls from some backbenchers and campaign groups to back a public vote on the final Brexit deal.
Prime Minister Theresa May this weekend issued her strongest rebuke yet to the idea of a public vote on the final Brexit deal.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Mrs May said: “In the summer of 2016, millions came out to have their say. In many cases, for the first time in decades they trusted that their vote would count; that after years of feeling ignored by politics, their voices would be heard.
“To ask the question all over again would be a gross betrayal of our democracy – and a betrayal of trust.”
(c) Sky News 2018: GMB union backs referendum on final terms of Brexit
