Diane Abbott breaks with Labour policy to back second EU referendum Diane Abbott, the shadow Home Secretary, has broken with Labour policy by signalling her support for a referendum on the […]

Diane Abbott, the shadow Home Secretary, has broken with Labour policy by signalling her support for a referendum on the final Brexit deal negotiated by Theresa May.

Her move put her at odds with Jeremy Corbyn and Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit Secretary, who have firmly ruled out holding a second referendum on the EU.

“I will argue for the right of the electorate to vote on any deal that is finally agreed.” The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription. Diane Abbott

In a letter to a constituent, she wrote: “I will argue for the right of the electorate to vote on any deal that is finally agreed.”

Another constituent in Ms Abbott’s Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat received a similar letter.

Comments ‘poorly worded’

After her comments were disclosed, the Shadow Home Secretary said her remarks were “poorly worded” and insisted there was “no important story here”.

Although she played down the significance of her words, Ms Abbott’s intervention will prompt hopes among Remainers that Labour could be edging towards a shift of policy.

Ben Bradshaw, a strongly pro-EU MP, tweeted: “Good for Diane! And she shouldn’t have to apologise for sensible & honest assurances to her constituents.”

Support for a second referendum was a flagship Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment in the June general election, and party leader Sir Vince Cable described her comments as “really encouraging”.

Several ‘legal problems’

However, Sir Keir distanced himself from his colleague’s backing for a fresh EU vote.

He told the Commons that he believed there were “a number of legal problems” with any call for a fresh referendum.

“I firmly believe that we need to go into transitional arrangements on the same basic terms as now, and therefore the final deal will not be known until we are at the end of the transitional arrangement, which may be two years, about the end of 2021,” he said.

“The problem with the proposition of having a second referendum in 2021 is that we will two years previously have exited the EU and therefore ‘In’ doesn’t seem to me to be a question you can put on the ballot paper.

“That drives the argument to being that we will have to have a referendum before March 2019. That seems to me pretty unlikely and I am not sure what the question would be, because no final deal would have come into being by that stage.”

Abbott missed key vote

Ms Abbott faced calls to resign from the frontbench in February when she missed a parliamentary vote to trigger Article 50, beginning the process of withdrawal from the EU.

She explained that she had gone home early because she was suffering from a migraine.