Brexit: New referendum could include option to Remain under Labour plans, says Keir Starmer

The shadow Brexit secretary told The Independent the form of any new referendum was yet to be decided

Labour’s Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer has said his party's new approach to a fresh referendum does not rule out an option to stay in the EU.

Sir Keir told The Independent the motion agreed with delegates that will be voted on Tuesday, could allow a new referendum with ‘Remain’ on the ballot paper.

The comments fly in the face of others made by shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Unite leader Len McCluskey who had said they believed the best approach to any new referendum would exclude an option to remain in the bloc.

The Independent has launched the Final Say campaign to secure a People’s Vote referendum on whatever the outcome of Brexit might be, with more than 820,000 having signed the petition so far.

Sir Keir’s words will be a boost to Remainers in his party who had complained after Mr McDonnell set out his views ahead of his big speech at the conference in Liverpool.

On Sunday Labour delegates agreed a motion that, if passed by the conference, would mean that Labour “must support all options remaining on the table including campaigning for a public vote”.

Sir Keir told The Independent: “The idea is to retain flexibility, the motion doesn’t rule out remain, it doesn’t tie us to any position on what should be in any future vote.”

The shadow cabinet minister, apparently reacting to anger in the wake of Mr McDonnell’s words, made similar comments to delegates at a fringe meeting on Monday.

People’s Vote supporters had condemned Mr McDonnell’s suggestion that a new referendum should exclude a Remain option as “farcical”.

David Lammy, a supporter of the People’s Vote campaign, said: “Labour members support a People’s Vote by almost nine to one – 90 per cent of Labour members want to stay in the EU

“They did not do this to be offered a farcical referendum on no deal or a bad deal. It absolutely must include the right to stay in the EU.”

Chris Leslie, another leading pro-EU Labour figure, told The Independent: “Denying the public the right to stay in the EU – if the face of recent evidence of Brexit job losses and falling living standards – would make a mockery of the wishes of 90 per cent of Labour supporters. This nonsense is unsustainable.”

A third, Mike Gapes, tweeted: “McDonnell does not speak for me” – insisting they had to be “a meaningful people’s vote with the choice between the deal, or no deal and to remain in the EU”.

In an interview on Monday morning, Mr McDonnell said Labour would “go for a People’s Vote” on leaving the EU if it cannot push the government into calling a general election, but any vote would only be on the terms of the deal.

His words echoed others from Mr McCluskey the day before, who 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.”

Rows over Brexit have dominated the start of Labour’s annual conference where more than 100 constituency parties submitted motions demanding a second referendum and thousands of people joined a march demanding a people’s vote on the final deal.