Brexit news - live: Crunch Labour meeting on second referendum descends into acrimony as deputy leader Tom Watson storms out
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Your support makes all the difference.An attempt to force Jeremy Corbyn to commit to a fresh Brexit referendum in all circumstances has failed after a marathon six-hour meeting of the Labour’s ruling executive committee on Friday.
It means the partry is only pledged to support a fresh referendum if it cannot secure “the necessary changes to the government’s deal or a general election”.
Tom Watson, the party’s deputy leader, has led calls for Labour to endorse a public vote on any Brexit deal but stormed out of the meeting after it emerged that the shadow cabinet would not be given a full copy of the draft manifesto commitment on the issue.
The Liberal Democrats, Change UK and the Green Party all described the position as a “fudge”, but some Labour politicians welcomed the fact a possible referendum would now be on the party’s European election manifesto.
Meanwhile, it emerged that Theresa May will abandon talks with Labour to strike a Brexit deal if no agreement can be reached within one week.
If Labour agrees not to block the withdrawal agreement bill, it would then be put to the Commons – but the government will “move in another direction” if no guarantee is given, The Independent was told.
See how the day unfolded below:
The leaders of the Extinction Rebellion protest met with Labour's shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, and shadow environment secretary, Sue Hayman, this morning.
They have just issued a statement saying Labour needs to be "more ambitious".
The full statement says:
"Crucially, [Mr McDonnell and Ms Hayman] acknowledged the failure of previous Labour party policies to meeting the challenges we face, and have committed to the following:
John McDonnell will request that Extinction Rebellion present its case to the entire shadow cabinet on the climate and ecological emergency. He has also committed to presentations from us to the shadow environment committee and the shadow Treasury team.
However, John McDonnell did not commit to changing the proposed date in the Labour party motion which currently aims to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, although he said will consider a new target of 2030. We also raised this with Jeremy Corbyn ahead of the debate tomorrow in the House of Commons.
We’re glad that John McDonnell listened to the urgency of our demands but we need our politicians to be more ambitious. Our children’s future is on the line. The international rebellion will continue until politicians prove they are willing to act on all three of our demands.
We wait to see if the Labour Party will act with the courage and determination needed in this moment."
Labour MP Jess Phillips has warned that her party faces a "drubbing" at next month's European Parliament elections.
She told ITV News:
"I think people who voted Remain and voted Labour will not vote Labour again.
I do think we'll get a drubbing in the European elections. All the main parties are going to get a drubbing in the European elections."
These are people who love to vote, people who vote in the European elections. And they'll be shrewd and won't want to waste it, so if Labour have got a Remain message, I think they could vote Labour."
NEW: Tom Watson has stormed out of the Labour NEC meeting at which the party's policy on Brexit is being decided.
The deputy leader left after Jeremy Corbyn refused to hand out copies of a draft paragraph on another Brexit referendum to be included in the party's manifesto for European Parliament elections next month.
Full story: Tom Watson storms out of Labour meeting on second Brexit referendum
In the Commons, Tory backbencher Sir Christopher Chope has been heckled by his Conservative colleagues after dismissing calls for tougher action on climate change as an "expensive and extravagant virtue signal".
He was speaking during a debate on a bill introduced by Tory MP Alex Chalk, which would require the UK to reach its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Mr Chope said the commitment would be an "extraordinary act of self-indulgence" that would see the UK "unilaterally condemn our economy to problems which no other economy is prepared to suffer".
John McDonnell has hit out at Jeremy Hunt for warning Theresa May against agreeing to Labour's demands for a customs union with the EU.
The shadow chancellor said the foreign secretary's comments this morning were "hardly a helpful or constructive intervention" given cross-party talks are ongoing.
He said the remarks would fuel concerns that the next Tory leader - and Mr Hunt hopes that will be him - could rip up any deal that is agreed with Labour.
Change UK MP Chuka Umunna has urged Labour supporters to back his party rather than endorse Jeremy Corbyn's "prevarication" on Brexit.
Speaking at a rally for the new party, the former Labour MP said:
"Don't endorse that prevarication. Vote for Change UK.
"Or at the very least, if you haven't made up your mind what you will do at the next general election, lend us your vote in these European elections.
"The better we do, the more likely you are to see the Labour leadership adopt a People's Vote and Remain position."
Conservative MPs have spoken out over school funding cuts ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review later this year
Labour's NEC meeting looks set to rumble on for a while yet, as members of the executive committee debate what the party's policy on a second referendum should be ahead of next month's European Parliament elections.
The meeting started at 11am and was scheduled to finish at 2pm, but ITV News' Paul Brand says there is no end in sight...
Matt Hancock has announced that social media giants have agreed to do more to remove content relating to self-harm and suicide from their websites.
The health secretary told the Commons that the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram had agreed to work with the Samaritans to remove dangerous posts.
He said:
"They'll not only financially support the work, but crucially, Samaritans' suicide prevention experts will determine what is harmful and dangerous content, and the social media platform is committed to either remove it or prevent others from seeing it, and help vulnerable people get the positive support they need."
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