Academic warns Labour against pro second referendum candidates

An academic at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has spoken about being rejected by the Labour party’s ‘Future Candidates’ programme.

According to the party’s website, the programme is geared toward young Labour members “from all walks of life and backgrounds to [encourage them to] believe that they can be a future candidate and put themselves forward to represent Labour not just at Westminster but at Holyrood, the Senedd, as Mayors, Police and Crime Commissioners or Councillors.”

While the scheme itself does not guarantee participants’ success in the selection process, it is aimed at priming young talent with this goal in mind.

Reportedly based on former Prime Minister David Cameron’s ‘A-list’ scheme, 360 places were open in the scheme.

Dr Richard Johnson, a lecturer in politics at QMUL, has today expressed his thoughts on being rejected from the scheme.

He said in a statement via Twitter: “I was rejected from Labour’s Future Candidates programme, which is fine. Not the reason I’ve been a member since 2009.

Happy for those chosen, but really hope party has selected people who understand why 2nd referendum policy was a disaster & key fissure in historic Labour areas.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer himself was a prominent proponent of the second referendum campaign, which politicians have largely abandoned since the landslide Conservative victory in the 2019 election, during which they campaigned on ‘getting Brexit done’.

Ahead of the 2019 election, Labour proposed extending the Article 50 period, renegotiating a deal with the EU in three months, and legislating for both the deal itself and a referendum on the said deal, which would take place before June 2020.