Party set to back referendum at last after dramatic votes
BY TORCUIL CRICHTON Westminster Editor the campaign for a so-called People’s Vote.
Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer confirmed the next step would be to support a new motion seeking a referendum, with a Remain option.
He told MPs that going back to the people was now the only way through the deadlock, with the next big Commons vote taking place by March 12. During the debate, Starmer said: “Labour will support or put forward an amendment in favour of a public vote. “That public vote would include a credible leave option and remain.” After the vote, Jeremy Corbyn said: “We will back a public vote in order to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit or a disastrous no-deal outcome.”
But in a suggestion that he may not yet throw his full weight behind another referendum, Corbyn added: “We will also continue to push for the other available options to prevent those outcomes, including a close economic relationship based on our credible alternative plan or a general election.”
Labour MP Alison McGovern, a leading supporter of the People’s Vote campaign, said: “Postponing disaster by a few weeks solves nothing and means Parliament will have to find a way out of this mess.
“The crisis is now so great the public must be heard.” Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson said that she had made a “genuine mistake” by accidentally voting for Corbyn’s Brexit proposal for a permanent customs union with the EU. She was the only Lib Dem MP to support the policy.