The Labour Party’s Intra-party Dissent Over Brexit Under Corbyn’s Leadership

Intra-party dissent indicates the occurrence of opposing sides within a political party and is a disruptive phenomenon impairing a party’s policymaking process.For the Labour party,intra-party dissent has been a recurring theme and has profoundly impacted its decision-making process and election performance.Over the past several decades,the internal division has been particularly severe over the European integration issue.The party’s stance has varied in different eras,oscillating between outright opposition to the European project and qualified approval of further cooperation with the European Union(EU).In recent years,the intra-party conflict over the European integration has taken the form of the excruciating Brexit debate.The Labour Party members argued fiercely over whether or not to support Cameron’s proposal of holding a referendum on the EU membership,the voters’ decision for the UK to leave the EU,the government’s negotiating terms with the EU authority and so on.The Brexit issue was a significant concern for the Labour Party throughout Corbyn’s leadership and,thus,is worth exploring and analysing.The thesis attempts to explore the intra-party dissent over Brexit under Corbyn’s leadership,which was further divided into the Corbyn-Cameron era(from September 2015 to July 2016),the Corbyn-May era(from July 2016 to July 2019)and the Corbyn-Johnson era(from July 2019 to April 2020).There were different groups in the Labour Party concerning the EU withdrawal,including the hard Brexiteers,the soft Brexiteers,and the Bremainers.The categorisation was based on the Labour MPs’attitudes towards the EU membership referendum’s result.The hard Brexiteers supported the EU withdrawal unconditionally,the soft Brexiteers would manifest willingness to support Brexit if some principles were met,and the Bremainers supported a second referendum on the EU membership.In this thesis,there is a detailed analysis of how different groups responded to Brexit-related issues such as the customs union,the single market,Article 50,and so on.This thesis puts forward three ways of assessing the intensity of the intra-party dissent over Brexit,including the number of the Labour MPs who resigned from the shadow cabinet,the number of the Labour MPs who split from the Labour Party and the Labour MPs’cross-voting behaviour in the House of Commons.And it is concluded that a string of resignations on account of the Brexit issue emerged in the Corbyn-Cameron era and the Corbyn-May era.However,few Labour MPs left office in the Corbyn-Johnson era on account of the Brexit challenge.In terms of the Labour MPs’split,a major event that shook the party was seven Labour MPs’breakaway in 2019.Regarding the cross-voting behaviour,such a phenomenon was the most frequent in the Corbyn-May era.There were two main reasons for the intra-party dissent over Brexit,including the identity factor and the interest factor.The identity factor was closely related to the country’s sovereignty.Many supporters of Brexit argued that after withdrawing from the EU,Britain could take full control of its law,border,and economy.The interest factor discussed in the thesis consisted of economic interest and workers’rights.Supporters of the EU thought that the trading bloc brought massive economic benefits to the country and was committed to protecting workers’ welfare.However,the EU opponents argued that the trading bloc was economically burdensome rather than beneficial for the country.What’s more,the EU harmed working people’s rights.