Smith’s euro pledge widens Labour split
LABOUR’S rift over Europe deepened yesterday after leadership hopeful Owen Smith said he would consider taking Britain into the euro if he was prime minister.
He also signalled that a future Labour government would try to make the country part of the border-free Schengen zone.
His remarks, in a BBC interview, left his feuding party more divided over Britain’s departure from the EU than ever.
Mr Smith has repeatedly called for a second referendum on EU membership, a policy rejected by current leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Recession
But the challenger went further yesterday by suggesting that a future Labour government could apply for the country to re-join the EU after Brexit.
Asked on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 if he would try to regain entry to the EU even if it meant signing up to Schengen and the euro, Mr Smith said: “If we had gone into a further recession, if we had the prospect of another 10 years of Tory austerity, if they were saying that the price of our staying out is opening up the NHS to private sector competition, then I think the sensible and responsible thing for a Labour government to do is to say we are better off in the EU.”
Mr Smith said he was an internationalist and a “collaborator and a co-operator” adding: “I want us to be part of the EU.”
He insisted Britain should have a second EU referendum once the details of the exit deal become clear. He said: “My point is simple – once we know what the deal is, that’s the point at which you have an extra democratic moment in Britain.”
His call was rejected last night by senior Labour MP Chuka Umunna, who said: “I think we have to accept the result of the referendum.”
Former Tory Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said: “We’ve had the vote, we’re democrats, Britain is going to leave the EU. There is not going to be a second vote.”
A Labour donor has been suspended by the party following his outspoken attack on Mr Corbyn.
Michael Foster was barred after writing a newspaper article in which he claimed to have been smeared because he is Jewish and compared Mr Corbyn’s allies to Hitler’s stormtroopers.