Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended

Brexit news - live: Crunch Labour meeting on second referendum descends into acrimony as deputy leader Tom Watson storms out

Follow live updates from Westminster

Benjamin Kentish
Political Correspondent
Tuesday 30 April 2019 13:30 EDT
Comments
Shadow Minister Rebecca Long-Bailey hints new referendum is not a 'red line' for Labour

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

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:

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in