Labour refuses to rule out second Brexit vote

JEREMY CORBYN has refused to rule out a second Brexit referendum when the terms of the UK’S withdrawal from the EU are known.

The Labour leader told ITV’S Peston On Sunday that he was not calling for a new vote, but sidestepped questions on whether his stance might change in the future.

Meanwhile, Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show that a significant shift in public opinion would make it difficult to refuse.

The comments by Mr Corbyn and Ms Thornberry are likely to prompt concerns among Labour voters who backed Leave about the party’s commitment to delivering Brexit.

Mr Corbyn said: “We are not supporting or calling for a second referendum. What we have called for is a meaningful vote in Parliament.”

But when it was put to Mr Corbyn that he was not saying he would never support another referendum, the Labour leader said: “We are not calling for one either”.

Conservatives seized on the comments to claim that Labour was plotting to frustrate Brexit.

James Cleverly, the deputy Tory party chairman, said: “Labour just can’t be trusted to deliver on leaving the European Union.”

♦ John Mcdonnell was yesterday labelled “truly evil” by Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, over comments he made about Esther Mcvey, the new Work and Pensions Secretary.

The shadow chancellor described Ms Mcvey as a “stain of inhumanity” in 2015 and said he had “nothing to apologise for” after he repeated an activist’s call for her to be “lynched” in 2014.