Jeremy Corbyn

A longtime Eurosceptic, the Labour leader has long struggled to balance the tensions between his overwhelmingly pro-remain membership – including many of those young activists who joined to support him – and the party’s voters in leave-leaning constituencies.

Notwithstanding the jubilant response of supporters of a People’s Vote to Labour’s shift this week, Corbyn is unlikely to be making tub-thumping speeches calling on voters to stop Brexit any time soon.

He made clear in his speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday that what Labour has in mind, if Theresa May’s deal or some version of it passes the Commons, is “a confirmatory public vote to see if people feel that that is what they voted for”. And meanwhile, he will keep pressing home Labour’s alternative Brexit plan.

John McDonnell

Ever the canny political operator, McDonnell shares Corbyn’s Euroscepticism, but has been keen to ensure the party’s divisions over Brexit do not endanger the bigger project of securing the most leftwing Labour government since 1945.

So at various tense moments in the past year or so, it has been McDonnell who has leaned towards a referendum in public, in the hope of calming simmering rebellions.

It was McDonnell, together with Keir Starmer, who was deputed to talk to the backbenchers Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson about their planned amendment calling for a confirmatory referendum on May’s deal, if it is agreed. And he has simultaneously been pressing Corbyn and his close advisors on toughening up their response to antisemitism.

Keir Starmer

The shadow Brexit secretary is, with good reason, seen as the primary voice in Corbyn’s top team who advocates for a softer Brexit, and also for a second referendum.

His private views on the issue are clearly some way from those of Corbyn, but during his two-plus years in the role Starmer has maintained the difficult balancing act of staying sufficiently on-message to be publicly loyal while trying to nudge the party position closer to embracing the possibility of a second referendum.

His position has been boosted by Corbyn’s decision to finally back a second referendum, and Starmer was quickly on the airwaves to insist such a ballot must have remain as an option.

The leave-town MPs

A distinct group from the smaller band of openly pro-leave Labour MPs, such as Kate Hoey and John Mann. They argue that advocating a second referendum could badly damage the party’s chances in leave-backing former industrial areas.

This group, which includes the Don Valley MP Caroline Flint and Stoke MPs Gareth Snell and Ruth Smeeth, has been courted by the Conservatives as possible backers of May’s Brexit deal, if given assurances over areas such as workers’ rights.

In Tuesday’s Brexit debate in the Commons, Flint hit out at Labour’s embrace of a new referendum, saying the decision to leave “has been made by the British people”. Snell said he “will not, shall not and cannot vote for a second referendum, regardless of how much lipstick is put on it”.

The referendum sceptics

Another mini-tribe on the Labour benches are notably more remain-minded, but still dislike the idea of a second referendum.

One of the more vocal of these is Stephen Kinnock, the Aberavon MP who backs a Norway-style soft departure, but has spoken out strongly against a new vote.

After the meeting of Labour MPs on Monday where the decision was announced to opt for a second referendum, Stephen Kinnock said he had “deep reservations”.

“I think it would be deeply divisive. It has a corrosive impact on the sovereignty of parliament and it is not clear to me still what should be on the ballot paper,” he said.