McDonnell’s claim over second referendum

A second EU referendum will become “inevitable” if Theresa May loses the Commons vote on her Brexit deal and Labour is unable to force a general election, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

Mr McDonnell, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, said Labour’s preferred option remained a general election if the government is defeated in the “meaningful vote” on the Withdrawal Agreement on December 11.

However he acknowledged that, under the fixed-term Parliaments Act, it could be difficult to achieve, in which case Labour would back calls for a new “people’s vote”.

“If that’s not possible, we’ll be calling upon the government then to join us in a public vote,” he said in a BBC interview.

“It’s difficult to judge this at each stage.

“But that’s the sequence I think that will inevitably go through over this period.”

Asked if, at that point, another popular vote would become “inevitable”, he replied: “That’s right.”

He went on: “Our policy is if we can’t get a general election, well then the other option which we’ve kept on the table is the people’s vote, a public vote.”

While Labour did formally support a second referendum in the absence of a general election at the party’s annual conference in September, Mr Corbyn and other senior figures have previously appeared reluctant to embrace the prospect.