Wandsworth is one of the most strongly REMAIN areas of the country and residents across the political spectrum overwhelmingly want a People's Vote. In the same way that the Parliamentary Labour leadership have adopted a dishonest and ambiguous policy on Brexit, sadly, Labour councillors are doing the same.

The vast majority of Labour voters, members & MPs, across the country also support a People's vote, so it’s shameful that our councillors in Wandsworth have been trying to dodge the issue. Please SIGN this to persuade the leaders – Cllr Simon Hogg and Cllr Jo Rigby – to bring a simple Peoples Vote motion at the next council meeting on 17th July. We also demand that they communicate the strength of feeling on this issue to the national party leadership and subsequently campaign vigorously for Remain.

This is a complicated situation, and can only really be properly explained with boring detail concerning internal disputes and procedures in the council chamber, so if you want to be fully appraised, please have a quick read below, but more importantly, please just SIGN and then SHARE this far and wide.  

So, if you’re REMAIN, whether you’re Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, Green or Change UK, please SIGN this petition, tell your neighbours, family and friends, put it on your social media and post it in your local community groups like Nappy Valley, Next Door and Scoop Loop. We might not be able to influence government or Mr Corbyn much, but we can demand better from our local Labour councillors. Make your Remain voice heard!

Thank you.      

FURTHER READING - Here's what's been happening over the last year. 

The most duplicitous element of this is that Wandsworth Labour pretends to be united in wanting a Peoples Vote, though in truth, they are massively divided and they keep voting internally AGAINST bringing a straightforward Peoples Vote motion in the council. This prevarication led to an individual pro-Remain cllr - Hector Denfield - having to use an adjournment motion in October 2018 (this is a something new cllrs are allowed to do as part of their maiden address in the council chamber). This is a watered-down version of a normal motion and it only requires cllrs to vote on whether they consider it an 'urgent issue', rather than voting on the substance of the motion itself. It was duly voted down by the Tories who control the council with 33 seats to Labour’s 26, with one independent.

Again, in the lead up the council meeting in early March 2019, a number of Labour pro-Remain cllrs were pushing for a Peoples Vote motion. At the last minute, the leader Cllr Simon Hogg decided to create a composite motion which included a weak, mealy-mouthed mention of Brexit in only one part of the motion and drafted the rest of the motion about universal credit, housing etc, blaming all the borough’s ills on the Tory government, in such a way that NO TORY would ever vote for it. Despite a last minute amendment to the motion which was insignificant and I won’t bore you with the detail, it would have been obvious to anyone that this motion was doomed to failure. Given the Tories’ dominance in the chamber, the motion only needed to win over a handful of tories, just 5 abstentions would have done to get the motion passed. Needless to say, another epic fail ensued.

Another issue worth mentioning here is that a straightforward Peoples Vote motion puts the Tory cllrs in the very awkward position of voting WITH, in some cases, their Putney MP Justine Greening, who strongly supports a PV, or AGAINST their Prime Minister and government, who don’t. You would think that a handful of tories, quite a few of whom will be remain voters and who will privately be despairing at the destruction being wreaked by Brexit and the direction of their government, might be persuaded to vote with their consciences and support the motion, or abstain. If the motion passes, it sends a strong message to both the government and opposition (such as it is) about the public mood. Our neighbouring boroughs – Lambeth, Merton and Hammersmith and Fulham, have all passed such a motion, as have 19 other London boroughs, Wandsworth needs to join them!

You can find out which councillors in Wandsworth represent you here, and please email them too! https://democracy.wandsworth.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx

Simon Hogg, leader and cllr for Latchmere ward is on Cllr.S.Hogg@wandsworth.gov.uk 

Details of Wandsworth Labour’s inept and doomed to fail composite motion can be found here https://democracy.wandsworth.gov.uk/documents/s64840/Standing%20up%20for%20Wandsworth%20against%20an%20incompetent%20Tory%20Government%20Paper%20No.%2019-114.pdf