Watson leaves door open to Labour election backing for new Brexit referendum

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has left the door open to the party campaigning for a second referendum if a General Election is called before Brexit.

He said that he could not rule out opposition support for a fresh vote if Theresa May failed to get a deal she could get through Parliament and was forced to call a snap election.

However, he said that the manifesto would be in the hands of the party members and suggested the issue was not something he or leader Jeremy Corbyn could control.

Mr Watson’s comments could see him clash with other members of the Labour frontbench including shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey, who said the party would not include support for a new referendum in a manifesto.

Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show whether a second referendum would be a manifesto commitment, Mr Watson said: “It’s too early for us to tell on that.

“We need to see what the deal looks like – we don’t even know if there will be a deal.

“It’s not in my gift or in Jeremy’s gift what the manifesto looks like.

“The thing about turning a party over to its members is they have a say in what the final document will be. But we are not ruling it out.”

Labour’s conference in Liverpool last week voted overwhelmingly to keep the option of a new vote “on the table”.

And shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday won a standing ovation from delegates when he said “nobody is ruling out Remain as an option” in a fresh vote.

However, frontbenchers including Ms Long Bailey and shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon were later cooler on the idea.

Ms Long Bailey told BBC Radio 5 Live on Wednesday that Sir Keir’s motion, hammered out after a late-night meeting, respected the 2016 referendum result.

Asked if a new vote would be among a list of manifesto pledges if Theresa May sent the country to the polls before Brexit day in March, she said “no”.

She added that a second referendum was “hypothetical”, adding: “What we have said is that, in a very extreme set of circumstances, nothing should be ruled out, and that includes a People’s Vote.”

And Mr Burgon later told LBC radio that Labour’s policy remained that “we accept and respect the outcome of the referendum”.

Asked about Sir Keir leaving open the door to a second poll, he said: “Who knows where history is going to go?

“The Labour Party isn’t calling for a second referendum.

“Labour has our own vision of Brexit, respecting, accepting the outcome of the referendum.”