Labour chaos over calls for second ballot
LABOUR splits on Brexit were exposed last night after Emily Thornberry opened the door to a second referendum.
The shadow foreign secretary’s comments put her at odds with Jeremy Corbyn who said on Friday that Brexit was inevitable.
The Labour leader had been asked by German newspaper Der Spiegel if he would stop Britain’s departure from the EU. He replied: ‘We can’t stop it. The referendum took place. Article 50 has been triggered. What we can do is recognise the reasons why people voted Leave.’
Miss Thornberry yesterday told the BBC the Brexit process needed to be more democratic.
Asked directly about Mr Corbyn’s comments, which sparked fury among Remain-supporting MPs, she said they needed to be looked at in context. ‘We had a referendum and the results of the referendum ought to be abided by,’ she told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show.
‘But we do need to have an injection of democracy in between the result of the referendum and us going any further.’
She said Theresa May was offering only a bad deal or no deal. That amounted to a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea or between a bridge to nowhere and falling off a cliff. ‘That’s not a meaningful vote, that’s not an injection of democracy,’ she said.
She repeated Labour’s insistence that there should be a general election but, failing that, ‘all the options remain on the table and we would campaign for there to be a people’s vote’.
Pressed on how Labour would secure a better deal than the Government, she said Labour would be pragmatic and grown up. She denied that amounted to a ‘fantasy prospectus’.
Last week shadow home secretary Diane Abbott exposed Labour Party splits.
Appearing on BBC Question Time she said those calling for a second vote should be careful what they wished for.
But she said she believed another national vote on whether to leave the bloc would give the same result, with the public asking: ‘Didn’t you hear us the first time?’ She added: ‘My suspicion is if we had a second referendum now the same people who voted leave last time, who are not largely speaking in London, would vote leave again.’
Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell are also unconvinced of the case for a second referendum.
James Cleverly, Conservative Party deputy chairman, said: ‘Labour’s most senior figures show they have no interest in securing a good deal for the country and want to take us back to square one with a second referendum.
‘Instead of respecting the result and acting in the national interest, they are playing politics. Labour should do the right thing for the country and rule out a second referendum once and for all.’
Labour defence spokesman Nia Griffith compounded the chaos by suggesting a second referendum was on the table.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Piennar’s Politics she said Labour’s position was ‘absolutely’ to vote against a deal.
She added: ‘We have said that in the event of an intolerable deal or a no deal situation that we are keeping all options open, keeping all options on the table.’
‘An injection of democracy’