Brexit: Labour hints it could support second referendum

LABOUR could back a second Brexit referendum if its proposals for leaving the EU are shunned by the government and a no-deal scenario looks likely, party leader Jeremy Corbyn said today (17).

The opposition leader confirmed this morning he would only hold talks with prime minister Theresa May about Brexit if she ruled out a no-deal exit.

"If the government remains intransigent, if support for Labour's alternative is blocked for party advantage and the country is facing the potential disaster of no deal, our duty will then be to look at other options ... including that of a public vote," Corbyn said in a speech in the coastal town of Hastings.

"She (the prime minister) seems to be prepared to send the country hurtling towards a cliff edge," Corbyn said in a speech. "To get a deal that can command a majority in parliament, Theresa May has to ditch the red lines and get serious about proposals for the future."

He added: "The government confirmed that she would not take no-deal off the table. So I say to the prime minister again: I am quite happy to talk, but the starting point for any talks about Brexit must be that the threat of a disastrous no-deal outcome is ruled out, taken off the table."

The prime minister is scrambling to put together a new Brexit strategy with cross-party talks after MPs sparked political turmoil by rejecting her previous agreement with the EU on Tuesday (15) evening.

May reached out to rival parties last night (16) shortly after surviving a no-confidence vote, hoping to hammer out a Brexit fix that she could present to parliament on Monday (21).

Just over two months remain before the UK is due to leave the EU, its closest trading partner, after 46 years.

But the country is still embroiled in many of the same arguments that were raging when voters defied government warnings and voted to leave in a 2016 referendum.

The prime minister’s olive branch offer came after a hectic 24 hours that saw her Brexit deal defeated by a historic margin in one vote and her government then cling on to power in a second one, by a narrow margin of 325 to 306.

She conceded last night in a television address to the nation that Britons might find the political upheaval "unsettling".

The prime minister called on Labour and its smaller pro-EU allies "to put self-interest aside" and attempt to find a solution to end the deadlock.

"The government approaches these meetings in a constructive spirit and I urge others to do the same," she said.