Is he joking? Watson says new poll will unite country
‘No wonder she is in trouble’
Tom Watson yesterday declared that a second referendum was the only way to unite the country.
The deputy leader of Labour said it would be inconceivable to not promise another vote in the next election manifesto.
And he said his party had experienced a boost in the polls thanks to its support for the idea.
‘We need to move beyond Brexit but it seems to me the only way we can do that is to have a people’s vote,’ he told the BBC.
Asked on the Andrew marr Show whether he was in favour of a second referendum under all circumstances, he replied: ‘ That’s the only way we can bring the country back together now.’
mr Watson admitted that he was not responsible for writing Labour’s manifesto and was just ‘one bloke around a table’.
But he added: ‘It seems to me to be inconceivable that if there was a general election tomorrow – and we hope there will be, we have been calling for one for months – that a people’s vote won’t be in the manifesto.’
Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry yesterday said that ‘in her heart’ she still wanted to stay in the EU. She told Sky News: ‘We are likely to leave the EU but it is something we need to agree ourselves and I think that there is a strong argument for asking the people to have a final say on this. I think that it is quite difficult for us to leave the European Union, most of us campaigned for Remain. I think in our hearts we want to remain, but the difficulty is that we have to square that with democracy. We are democrats above everything else.’
miss Thornberry said Theresa may was out of control following the third rejection of her Brexit plan by the Commons.
She added: ‘Even with just days to go she is just saying “It is my deal or no deal”. That is not meaningful, that is not democracy. That is Theresa may stamping her feet and saying “I want this, no one else is allowed to do anything”. No wonder she is in trouble. She is out of control. She is not listening to anyone. No one knows what she is going to do next. I think her judgment has been undermined.’
The comments came as a poll found Labour has taken a fivepoint lead over the Conservatives.
The Deltapoll survey for the mail on Sunday forecast that mr Corbyn would win 307 seats in a general election – 13 short of a working majority – while the Tories would claim 264.
A Labour Party spokesman said: ‘We will continue to seek a majority in Parliament for a close economic relationship with the EU to break the deadlock or a public vote to avoid a damaging Tory Brexit or a No Deal outcome.
‘our manifesto will be decided through our party’s democratic policy-making processes in the usual way.’