Conservative response to Jeremy Corbyn and Tom Watson’s refusal to rule out a second referendum

Commenting Brandon Lewis MP, Conservative Party Chairman, said: 

"The last pretence that Labour ever respected the democratic decision of the British people is rapidly disappearing.

“If Labour back a second referendum they will have broken their manifesto pledge and betrayed millions of people who voted in good faith to leave the EU.

“Labour would take us back to square one. Only the Conservatives will respect the referendum result and take back control of our laws, borders and money.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact the Conservative Party Press Office on 020 7984 8121.

Notes to editors

• ·       Jeremy Corbyn has today admitted that he would accept a second referendum - breaking his manifesto pledge and taking us all back to square one. In an interview with The Sunday Mirror, he said: ‘What comes out of conference I will adhere to…..But I was elected to empower the members of the party. So if conference makes a decision I will not walk away from it and I will act accordingly.’ (The Sunday Mirror, 22 September 2018, link).

Labour are breaking their manifesto pledge to accept the result of the referendum…

• ·       Labour’s manifesto clearly stated that they would accept the result of the referendum. ‘Labour accepts the referendum result’ (The Labour Party,Labour 2017 General Election Manifesto, p.24, May 2017, link).

Labour has left the door open to a second EU referendum and would take us all back to square one, meaning we wouldn’t get control over our borders, laws and money.

• ·       Jeremy Corbyn has already admitted Labour are not opposing a second referendum. Asked for the Labour position, he said: ‘We don’t have a position on it yet’ (The Sun, 7 September 2018, link).

• ·       Top Labour politicians and supporters have suggested more than 75 times that the party is going to support a divisive second referendum.Jeremy Corbyn, Tom Watson and Keir Starmer have all failed to rule out a second referendum. Asked recently, John McDonnell made clear that Labour have ‘not ruled anything out’ The Independent, 24 August 2018, link; The Guardian, 23 August 2018, link).

• ·       Just today, John McDonnell has refused to rule out taking us all back to square one on Brexit by rerunning the referendum. McDonnell said: ‘We would be in the same situation there, where we would be saying we're accepting that original vote, this is the sort of deal that we want… The debate around the next manifesto will go on, but I really worry about another referendum. I'm desperately trying to avoid any rise of xenophobia that happened last time around, I'm desperately trying to avoid giving any opportunity to Ukip or the far right. I think there's the real risk of that…We're not ruling out a people's vote, but there's a real risk, and I think people need to take that into account when we're arguing for one.’ (The Guardian, 22 September 2018, link). 

• ·       While Deputy Labour Leader Tom Watson has called on Jeremy Corbyn to back a second referendum. He said: ‘if the people’s party decide they want the people to have a final say on the deal, we have to respect the view of our members and we will go out and argue for it’ (The Observer, 22 September 2018, link).

• ·       Labour have previously been unclear on whether they would delay Brexit:

• o   In December, Jeremy Corbyn suggested remaining in the EU beyond March 2019. ‘Has this experience given the Prime Minister reason to consider dropping the unnecessary exit date of 29 March 2019 from the EU Withdrawal Bill? I am sure the whole House… would rather get the best possible deal a little bit later if it meant a better deal for people’s jobs and the economy’ (Hansard, 11 December 2017, link).

• o   But just a month before, Keir Starmer said there was ‘no dispute that Britain will leave the EU in March 2019’. ‘There’s no dispute that Britain will leave the European Union in March 2019. Labour voted to trigger Article 50 and we did so knowing that we would leave the EU within two years’ (Labour Press, 14 November 2017, link).

Sadiq Khan, London’s Mayor, has already broken his promise to accept the referendum result and called for a second referendum.

• ·        Sadiq Khan has previously strongly argued against holding a second referendum, saying it would lead to ‘cynicism’ and equate to ‘ignoring’ the British people. ‘I think the problem for those of us who are saying to the British public there should be a second referendum, it will lead to even more cynicism. It will lead to the British public saying hold on a sec, these are the rules of the game, we voted in record numbers and now you’re ignoring us and I’ve got grievances about the way the campaign was conducted, but the reality is Julian, the British public had a say. They voted and they voted to leave’ (LBC Sadiq Khan, 21 July 2016, link).

• ·       However, last week he called for a rerun of the referendum and delay to Brexit taking us all back to square one. ‘… the British public should have a say on the outcome of the negotiations’ (The Andrew Marr Show, 16 September 2018, archived).

• ·       Sadiq Khan also refused to answer when asked if he was calling for Article 50 to be extended. Sadiq Khan: ‘Well what could very easily happen is our government says to the European Union let's suspend’ Andrew Marr: ‘But our government is against a second vote so they're not going to’ Sadiq Khan: ‘Well well well hold on a sec. I mean, I mean, what's clear is Theresa May cannot even negotiate within her own party let alone the European Union, so what needs to happen is, is this, we defer us leaving the European Union’ (The Andrew Marr Show, 16 September 2018, archived).