Jeremy Corbyn was today warned he will “get splinters in places he doesn’t want” if he sits on the fence over a second Brexit referendum.
Senior Labour MP David Lammy piled pressure on his party leader to back giving the public a fresh say on quitting the EU if Theresa May survives a vote of no confidence today despite the Brexit turmoil.
But Labour is deeply divided over another referendum, with shadow cabinet ministers insisting that more votes of confidence could be called over the Government’s handling of Brexit, rather than moving to a so-called “People’s Vote”.
Speculation was rife at Westminster that shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott are more in favour of another public vote than Mr Corbyn.
However, Mr McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington, insisted “there is nothing between us whatsoever”, though he admitted there was “strong” support for a second Brexit ballot among Labour members. A growing number of Labour MPs today gave their support for a second referendum if the attempts to trigger a general election fail. Just over 70 signed a new statement backing this stance. This brings the reported total backing for a new vote to around 100
Mr Lammy urged Mr Corbyn to move towards a second referendum if, as expected, Tory and DUP MPs rally behind Mrs May to keep her in No 10 by supporting her in the confidence vote this evening.
“At that point he should then follow the overwhelming feeling of the party and party members, which is to arrive in a place where we put this back to the British people in a people’s vote,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “If he vacillates and sits on the fence, I’m afraid he is going to get splinters in places he doesn’t want.”
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However, shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, signalled that the party leadership could attempt to hold several votes of no confidence in the Government.
He told Newsnight: “That’s the sensible thing to do... the quickest way to get a public vote is a general election.”
He argued that a general election could be “done and dusted in four weeks” while a second referendum “would take seven months at least”.
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Streatham MP Chuka Umunna, a campaigner for a “People’s Vote”, rejected this argument. “With just 37 sitting days until exit day, there is absolutely no time to waste. If the no confidence motion today fails, we must move to the next stage of the @UKLabour conference motion and immediately back a #PeoplesVote as the way to stop no deal and resolve this,” he tweeted.
Mr Corbyn left his home in Islington at 8.30am, refusing to answer questions on whether the vote of no confidence is a distraction or if he will win it. Labour MP Chris Leslie warned Mr Corbyn not to make a “monumental mistake” by refusing to back a “People’s Vote” after putting it on the table at the party’s annual rally last year. “He would risk following the path of Nick Clegg nearly a decade ago,” he wrote in the Standard. “A broken promise on a People’s Vote could devastate Labour’s fortunes in the same way it did for Clegg after that tuition fees betrayal.”
Lib-Dem leader Sir Vince Cable, Tory ex-defence minister Guto Bebb, Mr Lammy and Green MP Caroline Lucas called in a letter to the Standard for a second referendum rather than a fresh attempt by MPs to strike a deal in “another episode of fantasy Brexit.”
