I could agree to a second referendum, but don’t ask how I’d vote, says Corbyn
Labour leader confirms his party will oppose the draft Brexit deal, but admits he hasn’t read it all
JEREMY CORBYN said he could back a second referendum on the UK’S membership of the European Union as he admitted he had not read all of the draft Brexit deal.
The Labour leader said another referendum was “an option for the future but it’s not an option for today” and that he did not know how he would vote if the nation was asked again to decide on its future.
Mr Corbyn risked ridicule by confessing he had not read Theresa May’s 585-page withdrawal agreement in its entirety. He said he had “read a lot of it … not every last word” but had read many summaries.
The Labour Party voted at its annual conference in September to keep all options, including a second referendum, on the table if MPS could not agree a way forward on Brexit. Senior party figures have said the option of staying in the EU would be included on the ballot paper in such a vote.
Mr Corbyn told Sky News yesterday that a second referendum was possible but cautioned against the idea of one being held in the short term. He said: “It’s an option for the future but it’s not an option for today. If there was a referendum tomorrow, what’s it going to be on, what’s the question going to be?”
Mr Corbyn was asked how he would vote in such a referendum. He said: “I don’t know how I’m going to vote, and what the options would be at that time. I wanted us to remain in the EU, that was my vote in that referendum.”
Mr Corbyn has previously said he believed Brexit could not be stopped, while Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, had said the opposite. Mr Corbyn sought to clarify Labour’s position as he said the parliamentary arithmetic meant Brexit could not be reversed because a majority of MPS would not go against the result of the 2016 referendum.
He said: “We couldn’t stop it because we don’t have the votes in Parliament. There was a referendum in 2016, a majority voted to leave the EU. There are many reasons why people voted.”
He added: “I don’t think you call a referendum and then say you don’t like the result and go away from it. You’ve got to understand why people voted and negotiate the best deal you can.”
Mr Corbyn has savaged Mrs May’s Brexit deal since it was published last week and said yesterday it was a “oneway agreement” in which the EU “calls the shots”.
He said: “We’ll vote against this deal because it doesn’t meet our tests. We don’t believe it serves the interests of this country. Therefore the Government have to go back to the EU and renegotiate rapidly.” He added: “There’s 500 pages in this document, much of which is quite vague. Where’s the guarantee on environmental protections, where’s the guarantee on consumer protections, where’s the guarantee on workers’ rights?”
Labour has long maintained its preference would be for a general election, not a second referendum, in the event of a Brexit impasse. Mr Corbyn said a snap general election was “not unlikely” despite critics pointing out it is
‘It’s an option for the future. If there was a referendum tomorrow, what’s the question going to be?’
now much harder for a national poll to be called because of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.
He said: “We could get to a general election if the Government resigned and called one. We could get to a general election if two thirds of MPS voted to have one under the fixed-term. Last time around, no one expected a general election and the Prime Minister decided to call one because she thought she could win it and do very well. The result was rather different.” His comments came as one of his most senior allies clashed with Andrew Marr over suggestions that the veteran BBC political broadcaster was not a democrat.
Mr Marr snapped at Shami Chakrabarti, the shadow attorney general, after she challenged him on his Sunday morning programme The Andrew Marr Show over whether he accepted the result of the 2016 referendum.
Mr Marr had questioned Baroness Chakrabarti on why she would be willing to campaign on a Labour Party manifesto which would take the UK out of the EU, given the fact she campaigned for Remain.
He said: “I can’t understand why you want to leave the EU … you’re going to go to a general election campaign as a member of a party whose manifesto says ‘we are leaving the EU, we are Eubrexit enablers’.”
Baroness Chakrabarti replied: “I’m a democrat. I don’t know about you, Andrew, but I’m a democrat.”
A visibly annoyed Mr Marr hit back and said: “Don’t try and patronise me. I’m as much a democrat as you are.”
The Labour frontbencher replied: “I certainly wouldn’t try to patronise you, and I’m sure you would never try and patronise me.”