Corbyn was brave enough to tackle the reasons why people voted for Brexit – and now he's being savaged for it

There was nothing Trump-like or even anti-European about Jeremy Corbyn’s speech about Brexit yesterday. Far from it, Corbyn demolished the idea that EU rules would constrain the policy direction of a Labour government. And far from embracing Brexit, Corbyn’s direction could undermine the causes of Brexit; longer-term some of these policies might well ensure the EU’s survival.

Of course, “Build in Britain” isn’t a slogan that will float everyone’s boat. But throughout the speech, Corbyn was clear that hard Brexit will be a disaster for working class communities across the UK and “the fantasy of a free trading buccaneering future … in reality would be a nightmare of our public services sold to multinational companies.”

He went on to deride the idea that it was the EU that forced Britain to fanatically sell off our economic assets to international big business, making a religion of contracting out and setting up markets where they don’t exist and can’t function. Our governments did that themselves. Far from the EU making a requirement of, say, privatisation and contracting out, Corbyn points out that “if you go to Germany you’ll struggle to find a train that wasn’t built there, even though they’re currently governed by the same rules as us”.

What Corbyn actually did was tackle why so many people in deindustrialised parts of the country voted to leave the EU. It didn’t fall out of a clear sky; rather it was a reaction to years of people being economically and politically marginalised. As big business was freed up – even encouraged – to go where it wanted, when it wanted, the livelihoods of many people were offshored and automated. Their communities were hollowed out. They were left to rot.

The genuine economic grievances of large swathes of Britain – as opposed to the racism which was also undeniably a major factor in Brexit – must be listened to by any government that wants to reverse Brexit. Corbyn signalled yesterday that he wants to do this.

His first solution is to rebalance the British economy away from the stranglehold of the City of London. As long as big finance controls Britain, we will never develop a fairer society. We will be beset by economic volatility, and the rewards will stay at the top. For the rest, the best bet is to become a cleaner or barista – the cheap labour demanded by the super-rich.

Britain’s obsession with finance is what drove the global crisis we are now living through. There is no way out except to put finance back in its box.

Second, we need intervention in the economy to ensure the tools of government are used to stimulate local value, to help local farmers and local businesses. No more using public funds to fill the coffers of multinational businesses to run bits of government or to service PFI debt. Rather than our tax money draining into offshore tax havens, it should be used to build a fairer economy.

“Built in Britain” is a quaint-sounding phrase. But underlying the label are plans to invest in the non-financial economy. This doesn’t mean rebuilding the cotton mills of the industrial revolution, but investing in non-finance, in renewables, in high tech industries. This includes investing in education, in desperately needed infrastructure outside London, and in using the government’s power to create a modern economy.

The real criticism you might make of Corbyn’s speech is that it’s not radical enough. After all, much of this analysis is common sense in many parts of Northern Europe where “industrial strategy” and “economic intervention” have not been dirty words for the past four decades. But Corbyn pushes the envelope, for instance insisting that those businesses who benefit from government intervention must be held to account for their levels of pay equality, for their climate impacts, for what happens in their supply chain.

This couldn’t be further from Donald Trump’s vision of the world. In fact, Corbyn explicitly eschews Trump’s protectionist trade wars. But, as economist Dani Rodrik consistently argues, if you want low tariffs and an open economy without high levels of inequality and poverty, you must have strong regulation on big business, coupled with high levels of investment and welfare. The alternative is a free-for-all for big money.

That’s what we’ve lived through in Britain – a “market knows best” approach in which all that mattered was slashing regulation and liberalising the economy. That’s what drove Brexit, and indeed it’s what is driving far-right votes in the US and elsewhere. Sadly, it’s not being listened to by the government because the hard Brexit being successfully pushed by Liam Fox and Jacob Rees-Mogg would turbocharge this model.

I want the EU to survive because I believe it can fulfil the dream of some of its founders to promote peace and equality. I want Britain in the EU because I believe it’s the best chance to constrain the power of big money and big business, to fight climate change, and to offer an alternative to the rise of Trumpism. That’s why I’m speaking at the Left Against Brexit tour in Liverpool tonight.

But it is a fantasy to think the EU can do any of this without serious top-to-bottom transformation. The EU has embraced far too much of the “market knows best” philosophy – often pushed by the British government. As a result it is coming apart at the seams, and before too long, Brexit will be the least of Brussel’s worries.

That’s why the policy direction Corbyn announced yesterday should not be seen as an attack on the EU. Rather it gives much-needed direction for the union as a whole. Only a Europe which embraces some of the changes set out by Corbyn yesterday has a hope of surviving. There is no going back to the day before the EU referendum— we either embrace fundamental economic reform, or we lose to the false promises of the growing far right.