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The crushing defeat of Theresa May's Brexit deal was a historic day in Parliament, one that saw many opposition MPs and even a few Tory rebels take to the bars of Westminster to celebrate.

But after the opposition tellers announced that the Prime Minister had endured the worst loss in modern British political history, Grimsby MP Melanie Onn did not have celebrations on her mind. She knew a decision had to be made about her own Brexit position.

Ms Onn said: "Everybody was very jubilant about defeating the Prime Minister but my overriding thought was – what next? Where do we go now? And what does it mean?

"It was that result that prompted me into thinking about it [a second referendum]."

Ms Onn could see that clamour for a second referendum was growing and, with her own Labour Party adopting a so-called "people's vote" as a possible option at its autumn conference, the Prime Minister's defeat meant it was likely moves would now be made to push leader Jeremy Corbyn into backing a second vote.

She spoke to colleagues on both sides of the argument about where she stood on a second referendum and decided to go with her gut feeling. The MP of nearly four years said she had always been "cautious" about the idea and, after reflecting on it, felt sure she could not back a second vote.

The Shadow Housing Minister rang her boss, Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey, to let him know she was about to go public – "He was very understanding" – before writing to Great Grimsby Constituency Labour Party (CLP) members over the weekend to inform them that she would rather resign her front bench job than vote for a second referendum.

In the letter, which she released to the media and published on social media, Ms Onn included 14 reasons why she was not a fan of going to the people again.

The reasons ranged from there not being enough time to organise one, to fears over a second vote stirring up such anger among leave voters that it could make a no-deal outcome, if that was on the ballot paper, more likely.

Ms Onn said she thought a second referendum would not be the panacea that many pro-EU supporters believed it would be. In places like Grimsby, where the electorate voted by 70 per cent to leave the EU, she believes the feeling remains similar to what it was in 2016 – voters want to put distance between the UK and Brussels.

She said the "negative side" of a "people's vote" had not been discussed enough, saying: "There are so many things around a people's vote – there is parliamentary timetabling, there needs to be conversations on what would be on the ballot paper. That is a really big decision and we are up against a really tight timetable."

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Ms Onn said she "resented" Mrs May's "mishandling, unnecessary delays and lack of attempt at co-operation and conciliation" on Brexit but said she felt it was the job of MPs to find consensus for a deal.

She said: "There are people who think a second referendum will settle things and calm things down. I don’t think there is anything to suggest it would give us that kind of resolution – the can of worms has already been opened and the way to heal it is to find a parliamentary solution. If there is one, then that is the best way forward."

And she added: "As much as we are against that [March 29] deadline, we mustn't lose our heads and panic too much about it and try and get a sense of where there is coalition across the House on certain ideas."

In the autumn, polling company YouGov released data suggesting a 55 per cent majority of people in Grimsby were in favour of a second referendum. However, the polling – which used a UK-wide 26,000 person sample for its findings – suggested the town would still vote out.

Ms Onn also conducted a survey of her constituents in September to collect their views on Brexit but said she found there had been no "significant" shift in opinion.

She said there remained a "very strong sentiment" in the town that leaving the EU was the right course of action.

"It wouldn’t at all surprise me, if there was a second referendum, that the vote – while it might be marginally lower than it was [in 2016] – would not be a significant shift. I still think Grimsby would vote to leave," said Ms Onn.

The former Franklin College student said some pro-EU supporters were living in an "echo chamber" and were not taking into account alternative views from across the country.

She said: "Maybe it is different according to people's referendum experience. I do think that if you are in the heart of a very Remain place and your campaign was embraced with open arms, I can absolutely see why you think that's the way to go. But I feel like it is a bit of an echo chamber – you are talking to people who already agree with you.

"Whereas, if they'd come to my constituency during the referendum and had a go at campaigning for Remain, they would have realised there are very different views across the whole country.

"I know there have been national media stories poking fun at Grimsby, saying 'Oh, they want that but they don't want that' and all the rest of it, but there is a very strong sentiment among people that they want some kind of change and part of that is not being aligned to the EU in the way we were."

Any MP sticking their neck out and coming out on either side of the Brexit or second referendum debate has its perils.

When Ms Onn published on Twitter her reasons for ruling out backing a second referendum, some told her she was a "democracy denier" or that her reasons were "utterly pathetic".

She was later told she should be "gunned down" - a vile threat which was reported to police and led to fellow Labour MPs leaping to her defence and calling the attack "disgraceful".

The ex-trade union employee said such language had to change – including in Parliament.

She said: "We must be free to speak according to our own circumstances. Our constituencies around the country will all have very different views and we must be free, without fear of being shouted down, including in this place, or accused somehow of being an enabler, a traitor or whatever it is. Those terms and choices have to be changed."

Ms Onn has nailed her colours to the mast and is already facing opposition for being bold enough to do so.

Since her decision, Labour has put forward an amendment to the vote next Tuesday on Mrs May's "Plan B" for Brexit which involves giving MPs the chance to vote on holding a second referendum.

The question now is, with factions of the Labour Party engaged in an internal battle over whether to fully support a second referendum, who will come out top and how much longer can the North East Lincolnshire MP remain in Mr Corbyn’s front bench team?

Only the Labour leader knows the answer to that conundrum.

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