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DERMOT MURNAGHAN:  Now it’s a debate which has so far been dominated by so-called Blue on Blue Tory infighting, the EU referendum of course, but last week Jeremy Corbyn made his first major intervention in that EU debate and after accusations that Labour’s leadership’s heart wasn’t really in the campaign, Mr Corbyn promised to make the case for remain and reform in Europe.  Well Pat Glass is Shadow Europe Minister and she joins me now from Durham, a very good morning to you.  Mr Corbyn, what did you make of his intervention?  He didn’t really come out all guns blazing and just talking to your colleague in the party, Chris Leslie, he said  he’s got to do more.   

PAT GLASS: Well I think he said that he would do more.  I think this is the first of three major speeches but he did nail his colours to the mast and he did very firmly say that he and Labour are for in and campaigning for in but I think that Jeremy like others in the party, I and Hilary Benn as well, we all voted no in 1975.  It’s a different world and Jeremy like me and like the Labour party, my family were completely split in ’75 as the party was, we’ve been on a journey and he is now very firmly saying he’s for in and the party is for in.  

DM: And you’ve gone on that journey as you say along with Mr Corbyn.  I mean some of the things that he said in that speech don’t exactly chime perhaps, I’m thinking perhaps of people who are don’t knows at the moment, particularly on the issue – and you know it’s such a major concern, the issue of migration, of immigration and in the past Mr Corbyn has said that he doesn’t think too many people came from other European countries.  

PAT GLASS: Well I think that Jeremy is where lots of people in this country are.  He doesn’t think the European Union is perfect, it’s far from perfect but he is very much in for reforming Europe and asking people and saying this is an opportunity to vote for Europe not as it is but as it can and it should be and that’s a much more socially just Europe.  I think lots of the people are in that place, they don’t think Europe is perfect and they want it to change and in that sense I think Jeremy is very much where lots of the voters are.

DM: Well let’s talk about one of those specific reforms he seemed to be mentioning and when we think about the effect it might have on movements within the European Union, an EU wide Minimum Wage.  Now if you got the same minimum wage in many of the countries from which people come to the UK at the moment there’s no real financial incentive to move.  Is that something that Labour would push if in government?

PAT GLASS: Well I was at the speech and I didn’t hear Jeremy talk about a European wide minimum wage.  What he was talking about is the rate for the job, that it is wrong that some employers are going to other European countries and not recruiting in Britain and bringing people in and exploiting workers.  Now what he’s saying is that if we had a rate for the job, it wouldn’t matter whether you were from the European Union or from Britain, you would get paid that rate for that job.  He’s talking about in the UK.  

DM: Interesting though isn’t it, the signals, those that are perhaps already decided they want to remain or thinking they might go that way, it is all about the clarity of the message isn’t it?  So we get the message from Mr Corbyn, we’ve now had it reinforced by you, it’s about jobs, workers rights, the economy and the environment yet if they listen to other sides of the remain campaign, it’s about big business, access to single markets, it’s about the financial sector being able to do business within Europe – which is it?

PAT GLASS: Well I think we have been very clear that we are running a Labour campaign to remain in the European Union and although the strapline of Britain is Stronger, Safer and More Prosperous in Europe might sound a lot like what David Cameron is saying, he is talking about the City and big business, we’re talking about jobs, millions of jobs.  In my region alone we are talking about hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely directly or indirectly upon our membership, that’s the kind of case that we are making in Labour.  It might sound very similar in lots of ways but it is very different, it’s about ordinary people.

DM: Of course you can use the EU, as has been discussed by your former leader, you can use the EU to clamp down on some of the activities of big business, you can break up banks, you can bring in financial transaction taxes through the power of the European Union.  

PAT GLASS: Yes, I think that’s the kind of reform that Jeremy is talking about.  There are some problems that we face as a country that know no boundaries – climate change, international terrorism, global tax avoidance.  These are the sorts of things that as a country you can’t tackle alone and that we need the European Union and its partners to work with us to tackle collectively and I think that’s the kind of reform that we want to see in Europe.

DM: So different visions.  A point I put to Chris Leslie, can I put it to you, is the message going to get stronger from those of you in leadership positions after the May 6th, the variety of elections that are taking place in many different parts of the United Kingdom, is the message, the remain in campaign from Labour going to get harder?  Are the leadership really going to row in behind it?

PAT GLASS: Well I think this is the first official weekend of the campaign and already we’ve seen the Labour leader give his first major speech during this campaign.  This was the first of a number of speeches that he and others will make and there is absolutely no doubt that the Labour movement is firmly behind remain.  We have a PLP, parliamentary Labour party, pro-EU group and 114 MPs, 214 Labour MPs and all of our Shadow Cabinet and all of our leadership are members of that group.  We are very firmly in favour of Remain unlike the Conservative party which is split dreadfully.

DM: Okay Shadow Minister, we are out of time, thank you very much indeed.  Pat Glass there, Shadow Europe Minister.