As more Labour MPs call for a referendum on the deal I’m not changing my betting position that there won’t be another referendum
INDEPENDENT DIGITAL: Labour MPs tell Corbyn to back new referendum #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/uljMBCIYx3
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 1, 2018
All those Leave voters in Labour held constituencies would ensure an electoral reckoning if Corbyn agreed to this.
Jeremy Corbyn faces mounting pressure to back a new referendum on Brexit after a raft of London Labour MPs signed a letter calling for a vote on the final deal.
The open letter to The Independent signed by 18 MPs in total warns that a bad Brexit deal risks tearing the capital apart and concludes the public must vote on it themselves, a move that goes directly against Labour policy.
It comes after similar letters from Labour MPs in Wales, the Northeast and Merseyside and follows a new left-wing campaign to push the party to a more pro-EU position.
But the drive from MPs in the capital – including Chuka Umunna, Stella Creasy, Tulip Siddiq, Margaret Hodge and Wes Streeting – has particular significance because it is where thousands of members who make up Mr Corbyn’s power base are rooted.
The new letter published today sees 15 of Mr Corbyn’s MPs joining forces with Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable and two of his MPs to demand the new referendum.It reads: “The terms on which we leave the EU have never been put to the public.
“When the prime minister brings back her Brexit deal later this year, we will finally know what Brexit means. And a decision will have to be made as to whether we accept it or not.”
It adds: “It cannot be right that 650 MPs alone decide whether to accept the deal, without any say for Londoners or people across the country. That’s why we think it’s essential that there is a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal, so that 65 million people can have their voices heard as well.”
The letter sets out the need to stop Brexit from damaging London’s status as “a cultural capital, a sporting powerhouse” and “a hub for international business, civil society and media”.
While it accepts that the 2016 referendum gave the government a mandate to negotiate a withdrawal agreement with Brussels, it says ministers do not have a mandate to “force a bad Brexit deal on our city.”
I can’t see this happening given the sheer number of Labour held constituencies that voted Leave nor can I see Mrs May agreeing to this, if she did Sir Graham Brady’s postie would get a hernia.
The voters were warned about the potential economic risks from a Leave vote, the voters knew what they were voting for.
My betting position has been for there to be no referendum on the EU before the end of December 2019 and the UK to leave the EU next March, these reports aren’t going to change my betting position.