Corbyn’s stance on Brexit ‘puts him at odds with Labour members’

LABOUR LEADER Jeremy Corbyn has taken a stance “so completely at odds with the will of members” by saying the party would continue with Brexit should they win a snap election, a critic has said.

The opposition leader used an interview with the Guardian to also say that he would recommend the party advocate Brexit if there was a second referendum as he hit out at EU laws on state aid which he said blocked investment.

Labour passed a motion at its party conference in Liverpool in September that it would seek a general election as its first choice, but left open the option of supporting a second referendum.

Michael Chessum, who worked on Jeremy Corbyn’s successful 2016 leadership campaign and served on Momentum’s first steering committee, was among those expressing dissent at his support for Brexit. He told the Observer: “Jeremy has fought for decades for the right of members to decide policy, and that is why many of us fought for him so hard.

“It is beyond me why he would now seemingly take a stance so completely at odds with both the will of members and the mandate of party conference.

“If a Left leadership is seen to thwart the will of members, this will do the Left profound damage in the long run in Labour’s internal politics.”

Mr Corbyn’s fellow MPs were also critical of the stance which the Islington North MP revealed in a Guardian article.

It came as Brexiteer Commons leader Andrea Leadsom warned that MPs who want to block a nodeal Brexit will have to either vote for Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement or a replacement to do it.