Hattersley backs People’s Vote

THE “vast majority” of Labour members want the party to campaign for a new Brexit referendum if hopes of an early general election are extinguished, veteran politician Roy Hattersley is set to say.

Lord Hattersley, who was a minister in the Wilson and Callaghan governments, will declare his support for the People’s Vote campaign in a speech in Sheffield today.

The former deputy Labour Party leader is expected to tell Jeremy Corbyn to “put out of his mind all the outdated nonsense about a socialist economy being impossible in Europe”.

Speaking alongside Labour former cabinet minister Dame Margaret Beckett and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable, Lord Hattersley will say there is “no conceivable deal which is remotely as beneficial to Great Britain as full membership of the European Union”.

The 86-year-old has previously said leaving the European Union will be a “disaster”.

Lord Hattersley will say: “Jeremy Corbyn promised the party, that policy would be made by the membership. Conference resolutions would he said, be implemented. That means he must, difficult as it may be, put out of his mind all the outdated nonsense about a socialist economy being impossible in Europe.

“The vast majority of party members now expect that when the hope of an early general election is extinguished, Labour will campaign for a People’s Vote.”