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:
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