Brexit: New referendum must exclude any option to remain in EU, says Len McCluskey

The leader of the union that is Labour’s biggest financial backer has said remaining in the EU must not be an option in any new referendum on Brexit.

Len McCluskey said it would be “wrong” and would risk pushing Labour voters who had backed Leave in the 2016 referendum to support the Conservatives.

Instead he said any referendum must be on whether to approve the deal Theresa May agrees with Brussels – if it is rejected there should be an election, which if won by Labour would mean Jeremy Corbyn still taking the UK out of the EU albeit on different terms.

It comes after Labour members, who overwhelmingly want a new vote and form Mr Corbyn’s power base, were buoyed when the leader said he would “act accordingly” if conference called for a fresh referendum.

But with the motion to be voted on being drawn up on Sunday, concerns among supporters of a new vote emerged that it might be too vaguely worded to be effective.

The Independent has launched its Final Say campaign for a People’s Vote on the outcome of Brexit, with more than 820,000 people having signed its petition so far.

But speaking to the Pienaar’s Politics show on BBC Radio 5Live, Unite general secretary Mr McCluskey said: “The referendum shouldn’t be on, ‘Do you want to go back in the European Union’.

“The people have already decided on that. We very rarely have referendums in this country, the people have decided against my wishes and my union’s wishes, but they have decided.

“So if the parliamentarians, if spineless Tory MPs, lose the courage of their convictions and won’t vote against whatever deal comes back, then my union and Labour’s policy at the moment is to say, ‘Well, if you are incapable of carrying out your functions in parliament, we should take the deal back to the people.”

A YouGov poll commissioned by the People’s Vote campaign showed nearly 90 per cent of Labour Party members want another referendum, three-quarters would like to see a commitment in Labour’s manifesto – but critically, it shows that 93 per cent would vote to stay in the EU if they were given a chance.

But Mr McCluskey said: “There are significant numbers of traditional Labour supporters who are saying, ‘We’re going to vote Conservative because we don’t trust Labour to take us out of the European Union’, despite the fact that Jeremy has said repeatedly ‘of course, we recognise the result, of course we respect the result, we are coming out of the European Union’.

“For us now to enter into some kind of campaign that opens up that issue again, I think would be wrong.”

Spelling out how he sees a new referendum playing out, he said the question must be narrowly confined to approval of any deal Ms May brings back from Brussels.

He went on: “If the people vote against the deal then we are back to the other scenario. She has to resign, there has to be general election so that we have a new government.

“And if that government is a Corbyn government, not only will we come out of the European Union but we will come out of it with a deal that will unite the whole nation.”

Mr Corbyn said over the weekend that he would try to use Tory Brexit rebels to force the prime minister into an early election, possibly by November.

To do this Mr Corbyn’s MPs and Tories from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group of Brexiteers would vote together against Ms May’s Chequers plan.

Mr Corbyn said: “That could trigger a general election and we’re ready for it.”

Labour is set to actually go one step further and launch a plan to force an election by seeking a motion of no confidence in the government within days of Ms May’s proposals collapsing, sources have said.

A motion of no confidence would also need some support from Conservative MPs to pass, but either way would act to severely destabilise the prime minister as internal pressure for her to quit peaked.

A senior Labour source told The Independent: “If Theresa May’s deal is voted down in parliament, then expect to see Labour come forward with a vote of no confidence within days.

“The party has always been clear that an election is needed, and we would push for that hard and immediately.”