LABOUR are under increasing pressure to back a second EU referendum sooner rather than later, after a huge new poll revealed overwhelming support for the so-called People’s Vote among the party’s supporters.
Jeremy Corbyn has also been warned that if Labour back Brexit, or are seen to have not prevented Brexit, then the party could be punished at the ballot box.
The survey of 25,000 people commissioned by the People’s Vote campaign, and carried out by YouGov, suggested a second referendum is backed by 75% of Labour voters. It also suggested Labour’s support at the next election would slump to 26% of the vote – lower than the 27.6% secured by Michael Foot in the 1983, if the party did not oppose Brexit.
Labour’s official position on a second referendum is to try and force a general election first.
The party will wait and see if the Prime Minister gets her Brexit deal past MPs when it comes to the Commons next week. If, as likely she is defeated, then they will call for a general election, or push for a vote of no confidence to try to force a snap vote.
But with just 81 days until Brexit, and some suggestion the vote on May’s deal could be delayed yet again, the Labour leader is coming under pressure to act now
The SNP’s Ian Blackford said Corbyn should hurry and call for the vote of no-confidence, and get it out the way. He said Labour’s hope of a snap general election was preventing the Commons from getting behind a second EU referendum.
He said: “The SNP, along with other opposition parties, tabled a vote of no confidence in the UK Government. If our motion doesn’t succeed, Labour’s only excuse for not backing a second referendum on EU membership will be removed. We can then all get on with building a majority for that vote.
“With the clock ticking, and Downing Street incapable of governing, the SNP will work with others to stop this Tory Brexit disaster.”
Yesterday, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told the BBC’s Pienaar’s Politics show that Labour would table the vote “when we expect to win it, and we will wait until the right time to put down a vote of no confidence”.
Meanwhile, there was speculation yesterday that Labour might be set to abstain when the Commons votes on May’s Brexit deal.
According to the well-connected, Corbynite blog, Skwawkbox, the party’s leadership are considering telling their MPs to hold back when Parliament is asked to pass judgement on the Prime Minister’s agreement with the EU. The website, which is closely linked to senior figures in Corbyn’s team, suggested this would allow the deal, with its controversial backstop, to be passed in the Commons, which in turn would infuriate the DUP, who would then back a Labour vote of no confidence in the government, giving it the numbers needed to defeat the Tories and ultimately force a general election.
The site suggested this could ultimately lead to a no confidence vote on January 22, “opening the door” to an election on 21 March.
A source close to Corbyn distanced the party from the report, telling the Business Insider that the story had “no basis in fact”.
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