Smith thanks Corbyn for ‘liberating him to speak on Brexit’
A LABOUR former frontbencher who was sacked over Brexit has thanked Jeremy Corbyn for “liberating” him to speak as he repeated calls for a second referendum.
Pontypridd MP Owen Smith, who was replaced as shadow Northern Ireland secretary last month after breaking ranks with the Labour leader by calling for a new EU referendum, said it would be “unconscionable” to allow a return to a hard border in Northern Ireland.
In what he described as his “new free-speaking, free-wheeling role”, Mr Smith said he intended to make “full use” of the freedom.
He said: “I would like to thank (Jeremy Corbyn) for liberating me to speak and I intend to make full use of it.”
Mr Smith, addressing the Commons during a backbench business debate on customs and
borders, said the only way MPs could “act in the national interest” and secure the agreement of the British people is to have a vote once the final terms of the Brexit deal are known.
He said: “I do not believe that it is sufficient for us as a government or the Labour Party in opposition to either acquiesce in respecting the will of the people and allowing our country to become poorer, less secure and more isolated.
“But nor do I think it is sufficient for us in this place to simply overrule the will of the people.
“So the only way in which I can see we can sort this out, frankly, the only way in which we can act in the national interest and secure agreement of the British people is to give them the opportunity once we know the final terms of the deal.”
Mr Smith added: “What is really on offer? The truth that is now being exposed, and to give the people in one final ratificatory referendum, final say, people’s vote in order to bring this country together, and in order to save this country from a less prosperous future.”
The Labour MP said Brexit was “already damaging the economic wellbeing” of the UK, and warned that regulatory divergence would “guarantee” the return of a border in Northern Ireland.
And he said: “As a former shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland and as someone in the Labour Party who feels a huge degree of pride on all we did to bring about an end to 30 years of civil war, we cannot countenance any return to any hard border – it would be utterly unconscionable.”