Labour leader says he does not know how he would vote if another vote was held

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Jeremy Corbyn has declined to support calls for a second referendum, insisting that it is an option that can only be considered in the long term.

The Labour leader also said that if there was another referendum, he did not know how he would vote.

His comments will offer little comfort to growing numbers of Labour MPs who are calling for a so-called people’s vote.

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His comments came after a week in which Theresa May’s administration has teetered on the verge of collapse following the release of the draft EU withdrawal agreement.

Pressed on how he would vote by Sky News interviewer Sophy Ridge, Corbyn said he voted to remain at the 2016 referendum and that there were “reforms needed” in the EU.

“I don’t know how I am going to vote, what the options would be at that time,” he said.

Corbyn said: “It’s an option for the future, but it’s not an option for today. If there was a referendum tomorrow, what’s it going to be on, what’s the question going to be?”

Corbyn, a longstanding critic of the EU, was asked whether Labour was offering enough leadership over Brexit and whether it could play a bigger role in coordinating those opposed to the government’s withdrawal agreement.

He replied: “We couldn’t stop it because we don’t have the votes in parliament to do so.

“There was a referendum in 2016, a majority voted to leave the EU, there are many reasons why people voted. I don’t think you call a referendum and then say you don’t like the result and go away from it. You’ve got to understand why people voted and negotiate the best deal you can.”

He criticised May’s draft withdrawal agreement for allowing the EU to call “all the shots”.

“We’ll vote against this deal because it doesn’t meet our tests,” he said. “We don’t believe it serves the interest of this country, therefore the government have to go back to the EU and renegotiate rapidly.

“There’s 500 pages in this document much of which is quite vague. Where’s the guarantee on environmental protections? Where’s the guarantee on consumer protections? Where’s the guarantee on workers’ rights?”

Corbyn said Labour would focus on negotiating a permanent customs arrangement with the EU, as if this was not agreed the UK would “lose on jobs, lose on investment and we lose on future economic development”.

His remarks follow comments made last week in an interview with Der Spiegel that “we can’t stop it” – in reference to the UK’s departure from the EU.

“The referendum took place,” he said. “Article 50 has been triggered. What we can do is recognise the reasons why people voted leave.”

It led to Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, attempting to clarify confusion over the party’s policy, claiming: “Brexit can be stopped.”

In his interview with Ridge, Corbyn said: “As of this moment, the arithmetic in parliament is such that Brexit has been triggered, article 50. We voted for article 50 in order to give respect to the referendum.

“I was asked this question by Der Spiegel and what I said was we couldn’t stop it because we don’t have the votes in parliament to do so.”

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said she would seek discussions with other parties, including with Corbyn, when she visits London later this week.

“I listened to him [on Sky] and there’s still an absence of leadership, of Jeremy Corbyn saying what he’d do differently, so if I can help get Labour into a position where we can coalesce, I would be delighted to try and do that,” she said.

Ignoring warnings made by Theresa May’s deputy, David Lidington, that she should support the deal because there were no further options for renegotiation, Sturgeon told Marr: “If the Commons says ‘we want to go down the road of single market/customs union, we want to take this back to the people of the UK in another vote, we need an extension of article 50’, if there is a clear change of direction, then I believe the EU27 would be prepared to look at that.

“Those who don’t think the prime minister’s deal is the right way to go have now a responsibility to come together and coalesce around an alternative.”

On Sunday, two opinion polls showed support for the Conservatives had been dented, with May’s party now trailing Labour.