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Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed that Labour is calling for a public vote on any Brexit deal after months of heated debate within the party.

He said a second referendum would need to contain "real choices" for both Leave and Remain voters.

The announcement follows poor results for the party in the European and local elections, and a narrow victory in the Peterborough by-election.

The leadership is hoping the concession will appease members who hit back at Labour over the party's perceived fence-sitting over Brexit.

Labour MPs reported being told by members that they were switching to pro-Remain parties during the EU vote.

But it will not go far enough for some Labour politicians such as Tom Watson who called for a second referendum in any case at a speech at the beginning of the week.

While today 26 MPs predominantly from Leave seats urged the Labour leadership against a second referendum which would be "toxic to our bedrock Labour voters".

(Image: Getty Images)

Rother Valley MP Sir Kevin Barron, Burnley's Julie Cooper, Don Valley's Caroline Flint, and Rotherham's Sarah Champion signed a letter which said a second vote risked driving a wedge between traditional voters and the party.

They said that backing a second vote would "give the populist right an even greater platform in our heartlands".

Mr Corbyn told the shadow cabinet meeting: “We have committed to respecting the result of the referendum, and have strongly made the case for an alternative plan for Brexit as the only serious deal that could potentially command the support of the House.

“At Conference last year we passed our policy, the members’ policy. Over the past nine months, I have stuck faithfully to it.

“A No Deal Brexit risks would plunge us into the worst excesses of disaster capitalism and trash our economy on the back of fantasy Tory trade deals or worse, very real and very damaging trade deals with Donald Trump, opening up our NHS to American companies.

“I have already made the case, on the media and in Dublin, that it is now right to demand that any deal is put to a public vote. That is in line with our conference policy which agreed a public vote would be an option.

“A ballot paper would need to contain real choices for both leave and remain voters. This will of course depend on Parliament.

“I want to hear your views, I will be hearing trade union views next week, and then I want to set out our views to the public.”

Former shadow cabinet minister Ian Murray, a supporter of the People's Vote campaign for another referendum, said: "Step by step the Labour leadership are coming closer to the increasingly clear view of the party's supporters, voters and members, that we must have a People's Vote on any Brexit outcome and that staying in the European Union must be an option in that final say referendum."

He said that if a referendum happened it was "impossible to imagine" that Labour would not campaign for a remain vote.

"Some unelected advisers around Jeremy Corbyn may wish to resist that, but the party's grassroots will not let that happen," he said.

"The resistance of that, increasingly isolated, group to letting Labour speak from the heart on this issue is still doing our party electoral damage and must come to an end."

Labour MP Rachael Maskell, a supporter of the Love Socialism, Hate Brexit group, demanded clarity on the party's position and said: "By late July, we will have an extreme right-wing Tory prime minister, pursuing a hard Brexit that will wreck our communities and undermine our rights.

"As a party, we need to present a clear alternative to transform Britain and Europe, and we need to be energetic and enthusiastic about promoting it.

"Only a radical Labour message can keep us in Europe, and only by opposing Brexit can we be true to our values and set out a radical vision to transform the country.

"Our position must be crystal clear before Boris Johnson walks into Number 10."

A Labour source said Mr Corbyn's statement was a "staging post".

They insisted the phrase "public vote" was being seen a reference to a second referendum, not a general election.

But they accepted there was still some way to go before a clear, unambiguous backing of a second referendum by Mr Corbyn. "Nothing moves quickly in the Labour Party," they said.