‘Liar’ risk for Labour if it votes down bills

LABOUR risk looking like “liars” to the electorate if they try to vote down the government’s Brexit bills, a senior backbencher has warned.

Former minister Caroline Flint called on the party to resist calls for it to back continued membership of the EU single market, which she said would amount to “EU membership in all but name”.

Her comments came after shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer warned Labour would vote against the government’s crucial European Union (Withdrawal) Bill unless it is substantially amended.

They also follow a poll of the party’s membership by the Economic and Social Research Council which found 66% want the UK to stay in the single market and almost half (49%) want a second referendum on any final Brexit deal, with a further 29% indicating they are inclined to back a second vote.

Ms Flint said voters would not take kindly to Remain-backing politicians who appear to be trying to “wriggle out” of the result of last year’s referendum.

She dismissed former leader Tony Blair’s suggestion the EU might offer concessions on free movement of people if the UK opted to remain a member, pointing out neither Mr Blair nor Gordon Brown and David Cameron had been able to obtain this as prime minister.

Labour MPs were “under siege” at last month’s general election in seats like her Don Valley constituency in South Yorkshire, where Ukip stood aside to give Brexitbacking Tories a clear run and it was “amazing” that more had not lost their seats, she told a meeting of the Policy Exchange think-tank on Monday evening.

Ms Flint said: “We need to be straight with people on Brexit.

“Now May has lost a majority, we cannot change tack or try to suggest that anything less than full membership of the single market and customs union is a hard Brexit.

“Those who aim to keep us in the single market know that this is EU membership in all but name.

“I promised to work for the best deal for jobs in Doncaster, to protect workers’ rights, to end free movement and no second referendum. That is Labour’s position too.”

While insisting it was right for Labour to subject the EU withdrawal bill to scrutiny, she said: “We have to leave the trench warfare of the referendum behind and bring voters together, whether they voted Leave or Remain.

“If we do so, Labour will be better placed to win again whenever the next election comes.”