This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Labour activists have launched a fresh campaign to get a second Brexit referendum adopted unequivocally as policy at its party conference in a move they hope will force the leadership to shift to a pro-EU position before a general election.

The Love Socialism Hate Brexit campaigners published their motion in favour of a second referendum after polls closed for the European election, in whichLabour is expected to lose remain voters to both the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

With the backing of MPs and major trade unions, the grassroots group said it was confident of winning enough support from constituency Labour parties to have a good chance of shifting the policy at conference.

Jeremy Corbyn has been moving towards a more pro-second referendum position in recent months, saying it is on the table to stop a damaging Conservative Brexit if a general election cannot be achieved.

But the activists want the party to endorse a second referendum in all circumstances and for Labour to back remain in such a contest, with the aim of getting this policy in any general election manifesto.

The motion says: “The leave vote is more than three years old, and there is no clear democratic mandate for any Brexit settlement. The democratic imperative now is for the people to have the final say. Labour will back remain in that public vote.”

Their campaign, involving phone banking to mobilise activists in favour of a pro-EU position, was last year successful in moving party policy further towards a second referendum.

But Michael Chessum, organiser for Another Europe is Possible, said it was nw “time for Labour to make a final and complete shift towards backing a public vote and opposing Brexit”.

“The alternative is that the electoral coalition behind Corbyn’s Labour falls apart,” he said. “The chronology of Labour’s Brexit policy, which we established at last year’s party conference, has run its course. Either we are in favour of stopping Brexit, or we are in favour of delivering it.

“So this motion is about the politics, not the process – about an agenda of internationalism, defending free movement and fighting for radical change rather than pandering to the nationalist right.”

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour MP, said it was wrong to think there could be a leftwing exit from the EU.

“The reality of Brexit is economic deregulation and scapegoating migrants,” he said. “It will make us poorer and undermine our rights.

“We have a duty to stand up to that agenda, and be part of a radical transformation of the European project. Only by acting internationally can we challenge big capital and fight climate change.”