Mcdonnell accused of betrayal over second vote
THE Labour leadership has been accused of betrayal after appearing to rule out the option to stay in the European Union in a second referendum.
While the majority of Labour members backed a “people’s vote”, senior party figures clashed over what it should look like. Yesterday, John Mcdonnell, the shadow chancellor, said: “If we are going to respect the last referendum, it will be about the deal; it will be a negotiation on the deal.”
His words appeared at odds with the motion the party decided to put to Labour conference delegates today, which did not rule out the option of staying in the EU being on the ballot.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Mcdonnell made clear he favoured a general election over a second referendum but added that any second vote should be about the nature of the deal the UK gets from Brussels.
Hours later, Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, appeared to contradict Mr Mcdonnell and said “nobody was ruling out Remain” when it came to the terms of a second vote.
Last night Eurosceptic Labour MP Kate Hoey added to the split in the Labour camp by saying that backing a second referendum would be “electoral suicide” for the party.
The final wording of the Brexit “composite motion” was decided after a fivehour meeting of more than 100 Labour delegates on Sunday. It said: “If we cannot get a general election, Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote.” The People’s Vote, the campaign group, said: “The cold hard fact this morning is that the motion agreed last night would allow staying in the EU to be on the ballot paper. Anything else is just spin.”
A Labour delegate who was in the room debating the motion said: “After four hours it was clear that the original text put forward by Keir’s team would not satisfy the room. We deleted a line which said that any public vote would be “on the terms of Brexit”. Mr Mcdonnell later appeared to soften his position, saying: “Mr Starmer is right, we need to keep all the options on the table.” It came after Remain-supporting Labour MPS criticised suggestions a second referendum should not offer the option to stay in the EU.
Chris Leslie, the Labour MP, said: “It is utterly ridiculous to deny the public the option of reversing this Brexit car crash, but that appears to be the position of Mcdonnell and Mccluskey. More importantly, it would be a betrayal of millions of working people left with the prospects of a much diminished economy, wages and living standards.”
David Lammy, another Labour MP, said a vote without an option to remain in the EU would be “a farce”. Lord Adonis, the Europhile Labour peer, said: “There would be no point whatever in holding a people’s vote on these terms and I would speak and vote
‘It is utterly ridiculous to deny the public the option of reversing this Brexit car crash’
against one. The whole reason for a people’s vote is to give people the choice to end the Brexit nightmare. It is a huge pity Sir Keir Starmer spent five hours yesterday in a private Labour conference room trying to hustle Brexit through and defeat the overwhelming desire of Labour members for a people’s vote with an option to remain in the EU.”
But John Mann, another Labour MP, said the “idea of a second referendum is going down very badly” with Labour voters in his constituency. Last night, a senior Labour insider said that they were confident a “clear” commitment to a second referendum had been secured. They said Labour would inevitably put its weight behind a second vote in the event MPS “chucked Chequers”.
Barry Gardiner, the shadow trade secretary, last night told a fringe event that the idea of an early election was “Looney Tunes territory” – comments at odds with the party line that Labour will only call for a second referendum if there is no early general election.