Labour’s Brexit spokesman has said a second referendum should be “on the table” if parliament is not prepared to accept the final divorce deal that Theresa May negotiates with Brussels.



Sir Keir Starmer’s statement contradicted remarks that Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, made earlier this week and comes at a time when the party is coming under pressure from activists to support holding another vote.

Starmer said he had never accepted that MPs should support the Brexit agreement May brings back from Brussels, “however bad it is”, signalling that Labour is likely to vote against May’s divorce agreement when it is brought to the Commons for approval in the autumn.

Brexit: Labour keeping second referendum option 'on the table', says Starmer - Politics live Read more

The Labour MP added: “I do think there needs to be a democratic check. I don’t think the prime minister can simply decide for herself what the future of this country looks like. I have focused on the vote in parliament, and the meaningful vote.

“If that vote is to reject the article 50 deal, parliament must decide what happens next. In those circumstances, it seems to me, all options should be on the table.

“So we’ve not called for a vote on the deal; we’ve called for a vote in parliament on the deal. But I accept the proposition that, if it’s voted down, parliament then decides what happens next and in those circumstances, in my experience in the last few years, keep your options on the table, not off the table.”

When asked again specifically about a second referendum, Starmer said: “We are not calling for it, but in the event that article 50 is voted down, we think all options should be on the table … That is the Labour party position.”

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On Tuesday, Gardiner emphasised that a second referendum was not the party’s current policy, and said there could be civil disobedience if an attempt were made to overturn the Brexit vote through another national poll.



“If people want to be able to achieve change through democratic means, if they feel that that is being denied to them, they then turn to other, more socially disruptive ways of expressing their views, and that is the danger here,” he said.

Starmer dismissed these claims in his interview. “Well, we’ve had lots of ups and downs already on Brexit. I’m sure there are many to come, and I have not seen signs of civil disobedience. So I think we can get through this exercise without that,” he said.



The difference of opinion emerges at a time when Labour is coming under pressure from campaigners to hold a vote on whether to endorse the idea of holding a second referendum as policy at its party conference in September.

Labour activists are preparing contemporary resolutions in the hope they will be passed by constituency parties and put forward to conference for debate. Labour policy at the moment is that the party is not calling for a second referendum, but campaigners hope that Jeremy Corbyn will have to give ground on the issue in order to stave off a damaging defeat on the conference floor.