Pro-Brexit Labour MPs urge Jeremy Corbyn to allow free vote on second referendum
3 min read
Brexit-backing Labour MPs have piled pressure on Jeremy Corbyn to let them reject his plan for a fresh EU referendum.
Prominent figures in northern Labour heartlands have called for the leadership to allow a free vote on any amendment demanding any Brexit deal agreed by the Commons be put back to the country.
Last night Mr Corbyn announced Labour would support a second referendum on Brexit if the Government rejects the party's own proposals for quitting the EU.
Labour wants to remain in a permanent customs union with the bloc and be more closely tied to the EU single market.
If that plan is ruled out, the party will back a Commons amendment next month calling for a second referendum, with the option of staying in the EU on the ballot paper.
But the move has angered Labour MPs in pro-Leave seats - with a growing number demanding the freedom to vote against a second referendum.
Stoke on Trent MP Ruth Smeeth told PoliticsHome: ”This issue is as divisive for the PLP as it is for the country.
“I am completely opposed to a second referendum and in the spirit of party unity we should have a free vote so we can reflect the best interests of the communities we represent whether Remain or Leave.”
Don Valley MP Caroline Flint took to Twitter to say Labour was “in danger of overturning an election promise to respect the 2016 referendum result”.
She added: “We can’t ignore millions of Labour Leave voters. There are Labour MPs like me who will not support a second referendum.
“Jeremy Corbyn give us a free vote so Labour MPs can keep their promises.”
And Bassetlaw MP John Mann told PoliticsHome a free vote in the Commons was the “only way of holding the Labour vote together”.
He told Mr Corbyn at a meeting of Labour MPs last night: “This decision will stop you being Prime Minister.”
'MISSPOKE' ROW
Meanwhile, a row has emerged between senior Labour figures over whether the party would back a referendum between the PM’s deal and Remain, after Emily Thornberry last night said it would.
A senior Labour source said it would not be "reasonable" for that choice to be presented to the public.
But Ms Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, hit back on Twitter by insisting she was setting out the party's official position.
Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said the public should only listen to “elected politicians” rather than Labour aides.
Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson meanwhile piled in on Twitter to say: “Whoever briefed that my colleague 'misspoke' undermines the sovereignty of the current Shadow Cabinet.”
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