JEREMY Corbyn is under renewed pressure to back a second EU referendum following a poll suggesting

nearly three-quarters of Labour members support one.

A survey of more than 1000 party members found that 72% want their leader to throw his weight behind a so-called People’s Vote. Despite the finding, the Labour leader yesterday refused to do so.

He said: “What we will do is vote against having no deal, we’ll vote against Theresa May’s deal, at that point she should go back to Brussels and say this is not acceptable to Britain and renegotiate a customs union, form a customs union with the European Union to secure trade.”

Referring to Labour’s party conference motion which put another vote on the table, he said the policy was “sequential” on a range of issues, adding: “The issue of another referendum was of course one of the options, but that was very much after the votes have taken place in Parliament. We haven’t yet had a vote and I think the Government really should be ashamed of itself.

“This vote has been delayed and delayed and delayed. It’s finally going to take place the second week of January. That is not acceptable, this vote should have taken place more than a month ago.”

The survey also suggested that up to 88,000 Labour members have considered quitting the party over Corbyn’s stance on Brexit.

Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s Europe spokesman, said: “A second EU referendum would give the public the chance to reject the false choice of Theresa May’s unwanted deal or an extreme no-deal scenario.

“With his own party members and voters overwhelmingly supportive of this approach, it’s bewildering that Jeremy Corbyn insists that a good Brexit is possible. It appears that everyone except Jeremy Corbyn and the Tories knows there is no such thing as a jobs first Brexit.

“Labour must come off the fence and stop letting the UK Government get away with its disastrous plans – or they’ll be every bit as culpable as the Tories.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the BBC that MPs could get “absolutely everything we want” from May’s Brexit deal. “We have a clear opportunity to leave the EU on March 29,” he said. “It has the vast majority of things that people wanted, not absolutely everything. The question is, can we turn this into something that gives us absolutely everything we wanted, and I believe we can.

“There will be some tough negotiations to follow in the years ahead but I think getting this clearer language on the backstop will help to get it through Parliament.”

Hunt said the UK Government was continuing to try to change details of the backstop, the safety net in the withdrawal agreement ensuring an open border in Ireland whatever the outcome of the UK and the EU’s future relationship negotiations.

It is particularly important because the EU won’t agree to a transition period and trade talks unless it is implemented but it is a sticking point for those opposed to the deal.

Brexiteers are against is as they say it could keep the UK in the EU customs union indefinitely, while the DUP say its provisions for Northern Ireland, allowing greater alignment with the EU single market, would create new barriers with the rest of the UK.

Hunt said: “Theresa May has been very clear this isn’t just about words but about text which has legal force. She has also been very straightforward about this – the EU has agreed the backstop is temporary and that’s a word they have agreed.

“So what we’re saying, very simply, is we’re not asking for anything new but we are asking you to define what temporary means so we can have confidence we’re not going to be trapped in the customs union forever against the wishes of the British people.”