Labour urged to shun Conservatives in EU referendum

A senior union leader has warned Labour MPs against campaigning alongside Conservatives during the EU referendum.

Paul Kenny told Labour's conference it shouldn't "be fighting on any platform" with political opponents or business groups which did not share its values.

Calls for the UK to stay in the EU "at any price" only strengthened David Cameron's negotiating hand, he added.

But shadow Europe minister Pat McFadden said Labour had a "duty" to show leadership over the UK's future.

The trade union movement has said it will not rule out campaigning for the UK to leave the European Union if the prime minister waters down employment rights as part of his efforts to negotiate a new deal for the UK in Europe.

'Blind embrace'

The GMB leader suggested Mr Cameron was "selling out his own people" and Labour should not have anything to do with the Conservatives during the in-out referendum - due to take place by the end of 2017.

"People in our own party by blindly embracing Europe at any price, merely encouraged Cameron and the CBI to push for even more attacks on working people," he said.

"It is a ridiculous and stupid suggestion that we as a movement, facing a vicious attack... how could we know all that yet campaign alongside the same people who attack our very existence. Labour has to remember whose interest we're in.

"Without a social agenda, disillusionment with Europe will grow. Let's campaign with those who share our values not those who would destroy them - no platforms with the CBI or Tories."

'Forward not back'

But Mr McFadden said Labour had "not just a responsibility to exercise leadership but a duty do so".

Those seeking to take the UK out of the EU already had a clear message and those who believed in the UK playing a leading role in the world needed to respond equally vigorously. "UKIP says 'take our country back'. I say no, let's take our country forward not back."

The EU debate must not be left to the political elites, he added, saying he wanted to see a community-based campaign: "I want to see 'farmers for staying in', 'trade unionists for staying in', students for staying in."

Speaking in the same debate, shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn said Labour must resist the "siren calls" urging it to retreat from its proud history of "internationalism" and of "standing in solidarity with those in trouble".

The post-war European settlement that the UK had signed up to had helped ensure jobs, economic growth, security and boosted the UK's influence in the world, he argued.