Our politics is broken. The post-war democratic consensus is shattering in front of us. In Britain, the two traditional parties of the left and right have been taken over by their extreme fringes.
Last week’s surprising local election results show that the country wants an alternative to this broken politics. And on the continent, the populist right is on the march in many countries, including Italy, Germany, Hungary and The Netherlands.
Brexit as sold by the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum cannot be delivered. Change UK’s platform is simple and straightforward: we support a People’s Vote to give the public a final say and resolve the Brexit mess — and we will campaign to remain in the EU.
EU citizens make an incredible contribution to our country. In the past week, we have heard even more about the challenges our NHS is facing as a result of Brexit staffing pressures.
The same goes for the care sector, where an estimated 100,000 of the 1.3 million people looking after the elderly and vulnerable adults are EU citizens.
The government’s disastrous handling of Brexit and the threat to freedom of movement is causing great disruption across health and social care.
But freedom of movement works both ways. My children were born with citizenship of a continent, they were born with the right to work and study across 28 different countries, born with opportunities their grandparents did not have. I’m not prepared to let all that be lost without a fight.
The rise of nationalism and antisemitism is a pan-European problem. I’m convinced we tackle it best by working across borders, not in isolated pockets.
We need strong voices speaking out against bigotry and xenophobia. I believe Change UK can supply this. We also know that hatred is often spread particularly via social media.
On our own we would struggle as a country to secure the regulation needed to make a real difference online. We are far better equipped to do this as part of a substantial international union.
On another practical issue, the European Arrest Warrant has proved a vital tool in ensuring terrorists can be brought back to Britain to face justice.
The European Arrest Warrant has also helped the German authorities hold the far-right extremist Mario Rönsch to account.
Change UK has only existed as a party for a matter of weeks, after 11 MPs (myself included) left Labour and the Conservatives.
We have neither the infrastructure nor the funding of the established parties. That said, we are doing everything we can to stop British politics being dragged to the extremes.
Some recent polling has suggested that in the London region, Change UK is the best placed party to beat both Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour. One of our candidates standing for election in London is Vice-Chair of Liberal Judaism and represents the Liberal Jewish Synagogue on the Board of Deputies, Karen Newman. She would make a far better representative of the proudly diverse city I grew up in than one of Mr Farage’s candidates.
In the capital and across the UK we have the chance to show we are open and tolerant, that we will not settle for a broken political system and that we can better fight the rise of xenophobia and nationalism together. We all bear a special responsibility to use our vote in the coming elections to push back against the tide of extreme politics.
Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger is Change UK Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Health, Digital and Culture
