Brexit: Labour MPs launch bid to force Jeremy Corbyn to back Final Say referendum

They believe the party’s official policy now demands the leadership pivot towards a new vote after it failed to secure an election on Wednesday

Labour MPs pushing for a new Brexit referendum will try to force Jeremy Corbyn into backing one by supporting a Commons motion as early as next week.

They believe the party’s official policy now means the leadership must come behind the move, after Mr Corbyn failed to secure a general election on Wednesday night.

But they fear he will dodge calling for a new referendum to avoid division in his shadow cabinet and the wider party, and also because they suspect he dislikes the idea.

Their moment is likely to come next Tuesday when there will be a debate and vote on Theresa May’s plans for the coming weeks, with any MP able to suggest ideas for the House of Commons to vote on.

On Wednesday, Ms May won a vote of no confidence tabled by Mr Corbyn, which would have led to an election had she lost. After winning, she invited other party leaders to meet her that evening to discuss a way forward – something Mr Corbyn refused.

Details of Labour MPs’ plan to secure a new referendum comes as Mr Corbyn prepares to make a speech on his Brexit strategy in Hastings on Thursday, with his party’s actions now thrust into the limelight.

Labour’s policy is that once Ms May’s plans have been voted down – as they were by a thumping majority on Tuesday – the party would seek a general election and then consider other options including campaigning for a new referendum.

One senior backbencher told The Independent: “Now the motion of no confidence has failed, and we’re not getting an election, our demand is that the Labour leadership must move to back a People’s Vote by the end of the week.

“If they go about just putting down motion of no confidence after motion of no confidence, that will make a mockery of our official policy.”

They added: “Labour won’t get a People’s Vote unless we make one. If we just wait for Jeremy Corbyn we are never going to do it.”

Labour won’t get a People’s Vote unless we make one. If we just wait for Jeremy Corbyn we are never going to do it

Labour MP

The group pointed out that as it stands there are only 37 sitting days left before Brexit, leaving little time to waste.

Another Labour MP said: “There will be a motion tabled in the next week or so either from us or from other people with our support. Time is running out and we have to get moving. It’s not certain who or when, but it’s coming soon.”

Due to previous decisions by the Commons, Ms May must table a motion on Monday setting out her plans following the defeat of her Brexit withdrawal agreement this week.

The motion will be amendable, meaning it will offer the opportunity for MPs to suggest their own ideas and have them voted on. There are likely to be at least four competing amendments put down.

Mr Corbyn will likely table his own, setting out his alternative Brexit vision, and there may also be one from Tory Brexiteers seeking to banish the hated “Irish backstop” from Ms May’s withdrawal agreement.

There could be two further motions facilitating a new referendum, which the Labour MPs plan to stand behind. One could directly demand a new vote, while the other, if tabled, would begin to unlock a longer process.

It would likely be submitted by Conservative ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve, who has masterminded much of the Remain-rebellion on the Tory benches, and would mean that draft laws brought forward by backbenchers would take priority in the schedule over government business – upending the usual practice in the Commons.

On Wednesday, Mr Grieve brought forward plans for new legislation that would deliver a second referendum, indicating that they are the draft laws that he and other People’s Vote supporters want to be debated and voted on.

Another Labour MP told The Independent: “Some shadow cabinet members do support the idea of a People’s Vote but some are really unhappy with it.

“So it feels like to avoid that division, Jeremy is doubling down on doing everything and anything he possibly can within the remit of Labour’s policy before getting to a new referendum.

“The problem is we have to move quickly because of the time limitations, so I think it will take extra pressure from colleagues and members to make it happen.”

The Independent has backed calls for a new referendum through its Final Say campaign, with more than 1.1 million people having signed a petition.

Earlier this week, backers of a new vote were frustrated when Mr Corbyn’s spokesperson signalled that instead of pivoting to a referendum, the party may first seek repeated votes of no confidence in the government.

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Vince Cable also sought to turn up the pressure, tweeting: “Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party cannot procrastinate any longer. Either he backs Brexit or he backs the people.

“He has a responsibility to get off the fence and provide some effective opposition.”

But a senior figure in Mr Corbyn’s team called on his party colleagues to be patient and argued that some of the discussion over a new referendum is being “manufactured” by those who dislike Mr Corbyn as leader.

They said: “People need to wait and see what the leadership says. Moving towards a referendum is our policy as decided at conference, but people are attempting to impart motives for why that hasn’t happened yet that are not there. It’s just that we feel we need to go through various stages which our conference motion set out.

“Two weeks ago people said we wouldn’t go for a no confidence motion because we were afraid, but we did. The next stage is how do we amend the motion on Monday.”

He added: “At the end of the day we don’t have a majority and I don’t believe for one second there will be a People’s Vote at this stage because there is no majority, even if we were to put a three line whip on it. I think a lot of this is being manufactured, people putting down amendments now to whip things up because they don’t like Jeremy’s leadership.”

Mr Corbyn will give a speech on Thursday which should flesh out his proposed view of how the country moves forward, but insiders steered The Independent away from the idea that he would back a new referendum.

Ms May survived an attempt on Wednesday to oust her as prime minister, as MPs rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s motion of no confidence in the government by a margin of 325 to 306.

Her 19-vote victory came less than 24 hours after the crushing defeat of her EU Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons, and clears the way for her to start cross-party talks on a Brexit plan B.