29 times Jeremy Corbyn's top team have spoken out against a second Brexit referendum – before suddenly backing one

But he and his top team have spent the last two and a half years arguing against just that, saying they would respect the result and move on.

The leftie boss now risks the fury of millions of voters who look set to turn their backs on him completely and never vote for his party again.

Just last month he told ITV that Labour is "not supporting or calling for a second referendum on the UK's EU membership."

His spokesperson said it was not Mr Corbyn's "preferred option" if he can't get an election.

After months of wrangling over whether to pledge it in his party's election manifesto back in 2017, they opted against it, and it read: "Labour accepts the referendum result and a Labour government will put the national interest first."

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said last night that it should be a choice between Brexit and Remain.

Back in 2017 Emily Thornberry insisted: "The British people have spoken. We have our instructions. We need to make sure we get the best possible deal."

But a few weeks ago she said it would be a challenge "for all of us who are democrats" to back another vote.

"At the moment, and as things currently stand, we proceed in good faith, we do as we are instructed and we are leaving the European Union," she told the Andrew Marr Show.

Separately she said it wouldn't be right to tell voters: "We think you're stupid, you made the wrong decision."

Ian Lavery is one of the most vocal critics of a second vote.

We are not supporting or calling for a second referendum on the UK's EU membership.

He said defiantly on Question Time back in 2017: "We will be leaving the EU. No second referendum. No second referendum. No second referendum."

And he wrote in an article for The Guardian in January that another vote would be a "divisive campaign that seems likely to deliver the same result again and do nothing to answer the demand of a country crying out for real change."

Diane Abbott told MPs in Parliament just a few weeks ago: "we want to honour the referendum vote" and repeated the same thing back in December, and in an interview in November.

Angela Rayner told Sky just four weeks ago: "If we end up with a second referendum then us as politicians have failed the public."

But she tweeted last night in a rapid turnaround that if the PM didn't back Labour's Brexit plans this month then "the time has come to stop a no deal scenario including a public vote".

Labour's Shadow Brexit spokesperson Sir Keir Starmer has long been known as wanting to stay in the EU.

But even he said back in 2016: "We have a duty to accept and respect the outcome of the referendum on the 23rd of June."

When quizzed on live TV, Deputy leader Tom Watson said it was "highly unlikely" that the party would back another vote.

He told the Andrew Marr Show last March: "We’ve never called for a second referendum. We’ve never included it in our manifesto."

Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long Bailey – herself in a Leave seat – said: "We need to respect the referendum."

She said separately: "I have reservations… it would be concerning and could cause significant issues."

And in another occasion she added: "The people of Britain have spoken and we have to respect their decision."

Earlier this month Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti agreed that a second referendum could be divisive.

Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon has resisted calls for another vote, and has largely stayed out of the debate for one.

He said in October 2016: "Parliament should abide by the referendum result. It would be anti-democratic & dangerous to do otherwise."

We have a duty to accept and respect the outcome of the referendum on the 23rd of June.

And Labour's John Healey said another vote would "leave the country more divided" at the end of last year.

Unite's Len McCluskey said the party should have "severe reservations" in a private meeting with Labour MPs last year.

He said there would be a sense of betrayal if the party backed moves to overturn the result.

And Jon Trickett also argued that Labour would "rightly" be in difficulty with its voters if they felt the result was reversed by a "privileged political elite."

Labour should only back a referendum if it "becomes absolutely necessary", he said in December.

Jeremy Corbyn's vow to 'respect the referendum' – in the House of Commons

  1. October 2016: “We on the Labour Benches respect the referendum result and accept that Britain must leave the European Union."
  2. December 2017: We respect the result of the referendum, but due to the Government’s shambolic negotiations it is getting increasingly difficult to believe this is a Government who are even capable of negotiating a good deal for Britain."
  3. November 2018: "Labour respects the result of the referendum. What we do not respect is the shambolic mess the Government have made of negotiations."
  4. January 2019: "There is a clear majority in this House to support a deal in principle and to respect the referendum result."

A second vote could even trigger riots on the streets, Labour's Barry Gardiner warned last summer.

He's repeatedly said he doesn't want another vote because it would "undermine the whole principle of democracy in this country."

In January he boasted: "our position respects the referendum result in a way that the Prime Minister’s does not."

But last night on Newsnight he insisted: "I have been somebody who has really resisted going to a public vote… but I am more concerned about a no-deal Brexit."

Labour's Women and Equalities spokesperson Dawn Butler wrote just after the referendum: "I understand Buyers remorse but that's democracy."






Source: Read Full Article