Labour’s ruling body has resisted pressure to back a second referendum before agreeing to any Brexit deal.
Rejecting a campaign by deputy leader Tom Watson, the National Executive Committee announced that its manifesto for the forthcoming European election would be “fully in line” with its existing policy of partial backing for a second poll.
“Labour is the only party which represents both people who supported Leave and Remain,” a spokesman said after the meeting. “We are working to bring the country together after the chaos and crisis created by the Tories.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The move “sparked an immediate backlash among remain-supporters,” says The Guardian, but according to The New Statesman, the outcome means Labour has avoided “civil war”.
According to the Financial Times, the Labour leadership believes its position “is the only way to keep a delicate balance” between its “pro-European urban supporters and working-class voters in the heartlands of the Midlands, northern England and Wales who want to leave the EU.”
Following the lengthy NEC meeting, Jeremy Corbyn announced that the party would back a soft Brexit with a customs union and support the “option” of a public vote only if it was unable to either secure changes to the existing withdrawal deal or force a general election.
The outcome is a setback for Watson, who has campaigned for a second referendum, alongside some union leaders, MPs and Labour candidates for the European elections.
It was criticised by Bridget Phillipson MP, who said: “The manifesto’s mealy-mouthed wording still maintains the fiction that there is a deal out there that can satisfy all the promises made three years ago, avoid real costs to jobs and living standards, or end the endless crisis around Brexit.”
An NEC source told the Financial Times that the five-hour meeting had largely been amicable, but Richard Corbett, Labour’s leader in Brussels, had been vociferous in his backing of a second referendum. “Corbett got quite heated but then he’s a fundamentalist on that,” the source said.
Another NEC member told The Guardian: “Politically, it was necessary for some people to turn this into a fight about a second referendum but in reality this meeting was not going to change party policy.”
The meeting came as Labour’s cross-party Brexit talks with the government continue. Both sides insisted yesterday there was fresh impetus behind the attempt to find a consensus.
-
Is New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plan for free buses realistic?Talking Points A transit innovation or a costly mistake
-
5 side hustle ideas to supplement your budgetthe explainer Almost two-thirds of Americans are looking to get a second job in the next year
-
DOJ indicts John Bolton over classified filesSpeed Read Continuing the trend of going after his political enemies, Trump prosecutes his former national security adviser
-
The Chinese threat: No. 10’s evidence leads to more questionsTalking Point Keir Starmer is under pressure after collapsed spying trial
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
The end of ‘golden ticket’ asylum rightsThe Explainer Refugees lose automatic right to bring family over and must ‘earn’ indefinite right to remain
-
Your Party: a Pythonesque shamblesTalking Point Comical disagreements within Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's group highlight their precarious position
-
Is Britain turning into ‘Trump’s America’?Today’s Big Question Direction of UK politics reflects influence and funding from across the pond
-
Is Andy Burnham making a bid to replace Keir Starmer?Today's Big Question Mayor of Manchester on manoeuvres but faces a number of obstacles before he can even run
-
Angela Rayner: the rise and fall of a Labour stalwartIn the Spotlight Deputy prime minister resigned after she underpaid £40,000 in stamp duty
-
The runners and riders for the Labour deputy leadershipThe Explainer Race to replace Angela Rayner likely to come down to Starmer loyalist vs. soft-left MP supported by backbenchers and unions
