Corbyn’s Brexit backlash
His own MPs condemn U-turn on 2nd referendum He’s accused of betraying ‘millions’ of Labour voters
JEREMY Corbyn’s decision to back a second referendum on Brexit prompted a revolt from his own MPs yesterday.
They warned Mr Corbyn that his U-turn would lead to electoral disaster in seats which voted Leave.
The Labour leader stunned Westminster on Monday by announcing his party would now back a referendum on any deal approved by the House of Commons. It would be pitted against Remain – with No Deal left off the ballot paper.
Theresa May accused Mr Corbyn of ‘betraying the trust of the British people’, as he had previously vowed to honour the result of the 2016 referendum.
Labour MP John Mann, whose constituents in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire voted 68 per cent Leave, described the shift in policy as ‘ absurd’. Comparing the U-turn to Sir Nick Clegg backing
‘It didn’t end well for Nick Clegg’
higher tuition fees months after campaigning against the policy, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Voters won’t have it. The last person to renege on their manifesto was Nick Clegg. It didn’t end very well for him.
‘Our manifesto was unambiguous – we would accept the result of the referendum. A second referendum doesn’t do that and the voters – in very, very large numbers – will not accept that.’
Former minister Caroline Flint said she would not support a second referendum and warned: ‘We can’t ignore millions of Labour leave voters.’ Fellow MP Lucy Powell said she ‘ remained to be convinced’ on supporting a second referendum, predicting around 25 of her colleagues would not vote for it.
Labour chairman Ian Lavery is also believed to have spoken out against the policy in a shadow cabinet meeting.
Asked if the decision would prompt a revolt, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday: ‘I’m well aware of different views across my own party and across Parliament on pretty well all Brexit issues.’
Sir Keir also moved to clarify what Labour would put on the ballot paper in the event of a second referendum, following confusion after the policy was announced.
He confirmed that if Mrs May’s deal got through Parliament, Labour’s policy is now to put it to a referendum, against the option of remaining in the EU.
‘We specifically agreed yesterday that if the Prime Minister’s deal gets through, that deal should be subject to the lock, if you like, of a public vote in the way that Jeremy spelled out yesterday,’ he said. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry had been accused of ‘misspeaking’ when she set out the party’s position on Monday.
She hit back on Twitter yesterday, saying: ‘Pretty hard to “misspeak” identically in ten interviews, but for clarity: if Theresa May won’t accept our deal, then the public must decide: do we accept whatever deal she gets through, or do we Remain? Got it?’
Speaking in the Commons, Mrs May attacked Mr Corbyn over Labour’s change of heart. ‘The Right Honourable Gentleman says that he and the Labour Party accept the result of the referendum, yet we also know that they back a second referendum,’ she said.
‘By backing a second referendum, he is breaking his promise to respect the result of the 2016 referendum.
‘He will be ignoring the biggest vote in our history and betraying the trust of the British people.’
She called on Mr Corbyn to ‘end uncertainty ... by backing the deal the Government brought back from the European Union.’