Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn will not campaign for leave or remain in a second
referendum if he becomes prime minister, the Guardian has suggested.
In an opinion piece for the newspaper Corbyn said that, if he was elected prime minister in the next general election, he would negotiate a new “sensible”
Brexit deal with the European Union.
“We would then put that to a public vote alongside remain,” Corbyn wrote. “I will pledge to carry out whatever the people decide, as a
Labour prime minister.”
According to the Guardian, this is “the strongest sign yet” that Corbyn will refuse to pick sides in a referendum vote, instead pitching himself as a “neutral referee”.
This would allow the Labour leader to avoid finding himself in the same situation as David Cameron in 2016, who was effectively forced to resign from No. 10 after the Remain campaign failed, the newspaper said.
Corbyn’s backing for a second referendum comes after the Liberal
Democrats changed their stance on another public vote. It was decided at the Lib Dem conference on Sunday that the party would still support a second referendum and would campaign for remain. However, going into a general
election it would instead promise to revoke Article 50 if the party won a majority.
Corbyn called the pledge “simply undemocratic”. Meanwhile, he accused prime minister
Boris Johnson of seeking a no-deal Brexit “to win back votes from the Brexit party and keep his Tory Brexit ultras on board”.
“Now we face crashing out of the EU next month without a deal, just to save Johnson’s job,” he added.
But the suggestion that Corbyn would remain neutral in a second referendum is likely to stoke further division within the Labour Party.
Last week, the party’s deputy leader Tom Watson called for a public vote on Brexit before a general election, saying Labour should “unambiguously and unequivocally” campaign for the
UK to stay in the EU.
Responding to Watson’s comments, Corbyn said: “It’s Tom’s view – I don’t accept it and I don’t agree with it.” Related... Tom Watson Calls For Brexit Referendum BEFORE Any Election Lib Dem Members Formally Approve Plan To Revoke Article 50