In the tradition of the Labour left, Jeremy Corbyn is a Eurosceptic. He voted against EEC membership in 1975, against the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and against the Lisbon Treaty in 2008. Though he was persuaded by former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and others to campaign for “Remain and reform” in the 2016 referendum, he did not embrace the EU in the manner some wanted.
Corbyn’s speech today was that of an authentic Eurosceptic. Though he committed Labour to supporting a “customs union” with the EU (an issue that has rarely exercised the left), he rejected continued membership of the single market (having voted against its original creation) and vowed to “respect the result of the referendum”.
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