The mood on Brexit is turning. Labour can turn too
There is a time-honoured expression for offering something that is not needed: "that's like taking coals to Newcastle" - the north-east of England, of course, for most of the 20th century having been a centre of working coal mines. More recently, however, the coalfields were so run down that, before the carbon tax was introduced in 2013, we were importing coal from Russia and South America for power stations not that far from Newcastle.
The miners were very important in Labour party history. When, in the early postwar years, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was being formed, the possibility of our joining was peremptorily dismissed by Herbert Morrison, foreign secretary in the Attlee government, with the words "the Durham miners won't wear it".
Perceptions of the damage that the mere prospect of Brexit is now inflicting appear to be strengthening
Continue reading...