Labour’s leadership has indicated their first priority is forcing another general election
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has clarified Labour’s position on a second Brexit referendum, saying that remaining in the EU would not be on the ballot paper if the policy is voted for at the party’s annual conference this week.
He said that the party would only “go for a People’s Vote” if it cannot push the government into calling a general election and that any vote would first be on the terms of Britain’s Brexit deal.
“If we are going to respect the last referendum, it will be about the deal, it will a negotiation on the deal,” McDonnell told Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Parliament will determine the nature of the question that will be put, but the first stage of that is to see if we can get a deal that is acceptable and brings the country together again. And I’ve always thought we could.”
Later, asked directly what options should be part of a second referendum question, he said: “My view at the moment is that parliament will decide what will be on that ballot paper. We’ll be arguing that it should be a vote on the deal itself, and then enable us to go back and do the negotiations.”
McDonnell’s comments follow the news over the weekend that Labour’s conference will vote on a motion to keep the option of a second referendum on the table. The motion was thrashed out by shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, along with more than 100 party delegates and is expected to pass on Tuesday.
“If we cannot get a general election Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote,” the potential policy reads. Adding that: “If the government is confident in negotiating a deal that working people, our economy and communities will benefit from, they should not be afraid to put that deal to the public.”
The Labour leadership are believed to be hesitant about rerunning the 2016 referendum for fear of it costing them support. Though polling by YouGov and ICM recently found that the party would see a surge in popular support were it to back a People’s Vote on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
