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Former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband described Brexit as a "wrecking ball at the constitution of the country" before arguing for a second referendum.

Speaking to BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show, Mr Miliband said he had not “given up on Britain” adding that the people deserve to have a final say on going ahead with Brexit.

It comes as Jeremy Corbyn announced earlier this week that Labour will call for a referendum on any proposed Brexit deal, but added that the party has "committed to respecting the result of the referendum".

Mr Miliband told on Sunday: "In the end we're in this mess because each party has tried to calculate what to do about Brexit according to internal party politics, that's how David Cameron ended up in the referendum in the first place, that's why Jeremy Corbyn is sitting on the fence."

"The Brexit issue is now a wrecking ball at the constitution of the country, at the political structures of the country, because each of the main parties has been thinking about its own sectional interests," he said.

Some MPs representing Labour seats in the North East, he added, had "bravely" said: "Look, because the Brexit that you were promised in 2016 is not available, because no-one ever thought a no-deal Brexit was the issue, you deserve the right for democratic reasons as well social and economic reasons to have a final say on whether we go ahead with this."

Mr Miliband went on to say he had not "given up on Britain", adding he voted Labour in the European elections.

“This notion that our constitution, the integrity of the UK, never mind our economy and society, are under threat from this Brexit decision is real,” he said.

“If you are buying a house, you get the survey done, if the survey shows there's subsidence you're not forced to buy the house, you can have a final decision, and that's why I think for democratic reasons as well as economic reasons, it's the right thing to do."

Mr Miliband pointed to Labour's European election results, adding: "Not just for electoral reasons, actually to appeal to remainers and leavers, the politicians are honour-bound to stop playing with the unicorns, there isn't a jobs-first Brexit, just as there isn't a GATT 24 option for the Tories."

He went on: "The arguments that you're making against a second referendum that it will prolong the agony, that it will fuel the far right, that it will divide the country, those are precisely the arguments against the deals that are on offer now."