While he was out canvassing in Cambridge, LightningMinion began chatting with a voter about how Brexit has been a failure, so he decided that will be the next focus of his campaign.

LightningMinion gave a speech to young voters in Cambridge:

“Brexit was a significant constitutional change, the most significant the UK has had for the past several years. It is one which you are already experiencing the effects of, with higher prices, a loss of freedom to move to Europe freely, and so on.

When the Brexit referendums were held, none of you were old enough to vote, and yet the decision voters made then is affecting you day to day. When the Brexit referendums were held, I was not in politics. If I was, however, I would have fervently fought to remain in the European Union.

I know how especially important the European Union is for some in this city. Cambridge is proud to be home to a vibrant, diverse community of people who were born in the EU, and moved here under the EU’s freedom of movement rules. When voters voted for Brexit, that will have been utterly gut-wrenching for those in this city as voters had just voted to get rid of the very mechanism which allowed them to move here, the very mechanism without which they may never have contemplated moving here, and may never have started a life in this city.

I, however, am cautiously optimistic that Brexit won’t be permanent, and that positive change is on the horizon. A few weeks ago, the pro-EU politician model-kyosanto of the pro-EU party Volt proposed a motion calling for the UK to rejoin the EU. I think most political observers expected this motion to fail because the parties opposed to Brexit have a minority of seats, with the pro-Brexit Solidarity and Tories having enough MPs to vote down the motion. The opposite happened, however: enough Solidarity MPs decided to vote against party policy, including their own Foreign Secretary, and join Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green MPs in voting for the motion that it passed. Yes, the official position of the House of Commons is that Brexit has been a disaster and a mistake, and that we should rejoin the EU.

When I was first elected as an MP 3 years ago, I thought that the chance of us rejoining the EU was zero. When Labour first adopted a pro-EU policy position a few years ago, our efforts to secure a referendum on rejoining the EU’s single market failed time after time because a majority of MPs supported Brexit. This is no longer true, and shows that the pro-EU campaign worked: we successfully made the views of politicians evolve.

However, we are not yet done: more work is still needed. The Prime Minister opposed the motion to rejoin the EU, and many senior members of Solidarity are still supportive of Brexit. The truth is, Solidarity is split on this issue, which is perhaps why their manifesto didn’t make a specific commitment to backing or opposing rejoining the EU, saying only that we should only rejoin the EU if voters endorse such a change in a referendum. Solidarity’s candidate was not an MP last term, and I do not know what his views on the EU are: given the divisions in his party, his view on Brexit could be anything.

Labour, however, is united on this issue. We whipped our MPs strongly to back the motion, and all of our MPs consequently backed it. I have been opposed to Brexit ever since I was elected as an MP 3 years ago, and I will continue to be should you re-elect me as your MP. Labour will continue to support rejoining the EU, and will call a referendum on whether we should rejoin the EU, join the Single Market but stay out of the EU, or if the status quo should remain. In such a referendum, Labour would have a strong pro-EU message. And if this is not possible, then we would seek further integration and alignment with the EU to reverse some of the damage caused by Brexit.”

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LightningMinion next visited a forum of business leaders in Ipswich:

“When we were in the European Union, businesses could trade with EU nations unfettered. Now, since our exit from the EU, this is no longer true, as many of you have experienced first hand. Trading with the EU now involves significant and costly paperwork and red tape.

The Tories are traditionally regarded as the party of business, but they are inextricably married to Brexit, which is a fundamentally anti-business project. Over the past few years, Labour and other pro-EU groups have made a lot of progress on this issue, leading to Parliament endorsing rejoining the EU a few weeks ago. A Labour government would carry on with the momentum on this issue and would call a new referendum to decide the UK’s status in the EU. In the referendum, you could vote to keep the broken status quo, or you could vote to rejoin the Single Market without rejoining the EU, or you could vote to rejoin the EU fully.

Rejoining the EU fully would remove all barriers to trade with the EU, reducing paperwork, red tape and bureaucracy, and significantly decreasing the costs of doing business with the EU. Rejoining just the Single Market I do not think is as good as rejoining the EU fully, but is a far more preferable option to the status quo as it would remove many barriers to trade, and would decrease import and export costs.

And if seeking such a referendum is not possible, then I would campaign for further integration and alignment with the EU, which would inevitably make trade with the EU easier and less costly.”

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While in Norwich, LightningMinion also met a voter concerned about the conflict in Gaza, so he decided to give a speech on the topic while in the city:

“When it comes to foreign policy, the central belief I base my opinions around is simple: I believe that people across the world deserve to live in a peaceful world which respects their fundamental human rights, and which allows them to democratically choose their government.

In relation to Israel and Palestine, this means that Israelis and Palestinians should be able to live in peace, with their human rights respected. Sadly, as we have seen during the past few months and several years, this is not the case.

We were all shocked when Hamas launched their attack on October 7, murdered civilians, and took civilians as hostages. It is often said that the most important job of a government is to protect its citizens, and Israel felt a need to exercise this by invading Gaza.

War is by its very nature destructive, but there are very clear rules in international conventions and laws limiting this to protect civilians. In its campaign against Hamas, Israel could have very easily followed these rules, but sadly has not, with civilians trying to flee the fighting being shot by the IDF. Israeli politicians have also endorsed the ethnic cleansing of the region, and South Africa has had to bring a case against Israel in an international court, alleging Israel of committing genocide.

This term, while the right-wing opposition criticised us placing sanctions on key Israeli officials involved in the military campaign, Labour and Solidarity were clear that Israel must follow international humanitarian law; and we have sought to place maximum pressure on the Israeli government to follow the rules of war and stop killing civilians, and on both sides to agree to a ceasefire. In our manifesto, we are clear that we need an immediate, lasting ceasefire to allow those in Gaza to continue their lives without fearing being shot because they were in the way, to allow aid to reach those in Gaza who desperately need it, and to allow hostages to be freed by Hamas. A ceasefire would also allow Israel and the Palestinian Authority to enter talks to seek a political resolution to this crisis, and Labour is clear that the resolution must be a two-state solution which allows Israelis and Palestinians to live in a lasting peace and with their rights respected by both nations.

Given that fighting is still ongoing, the situation seems bleak, and it may seem that hoping for a ceasefire is misguided. However, earlier on in the conflict, a ceasefire did occur; and there have been intensive talks behind the scenes to try to agree a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with Biden predicting that a ceasefire could be agreed by next week. We must not give up now, and a Labour government would do what it can to work towards a ceasefire.”