‘Transition period may rule out second vote on leaving EU’
LABOUR’S SHADOW Brexit Secretary has claimed that the need for a transition period on Brexit may make a second referendum on UK withdrawal from the EU impossible.
Sir Keir Starmer’s comments followed reports that shadow home secretary Diane Abbott had promised to fight for a second referendum once the terms of withdrawal were known. In a letter to constituents, obtained by The Guardian, Ms Abbott said she would “argue for the right of the electorate to vote on any deal that is finally agreed”, though she later told the paper that her comment was “poorly worded”.
Liberal Democrats, who are demanding a public vote on the withdrawal deal with the option of remaining in the EU, said the Shadow Home Secretary had breached Labour’s stated policing of ruling out a second referendum.
Addressing the House of Lords Constitution Committee yesterday, Sir Keir suggested the question of a second referendum may not arise as the final form of any Brexit deal may not be known for two years or more after the formal date of withdrawal in March 2019.
The shadow Brexit secretary said he had not spoken to Ms Abbott about her comments but believed there were “a number of legal problems” with any call for a new public vote.
“I firmly believe that we need to go into transitional arrangements on the same basic terms as now, and therefore the final deal will not be known until we are at the end of the transitional arrangement, which may be two years, about the end of 2021,” said Sir Keir. “The problem with the proposition of having a second referendum in 2021 is that we will two years previously have exited the EU and therefore ‘In’ doesn’t seem to me to be a question you can put on the ballot paper.
“That drives the argument to being that we will have to have a referendum before March 2019. That seems to me pretty unlikely and I am not sure what the question would be, because no final deal would have come into being by that stage.”
However, Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake called on Ms Abbott to explain her position. He said the letter “seemed clearly worded”, adding: “If she wants to avoid the impression that she says one thing in Hackney and another in Westminster, she needs to explain what her position is.”