Brexit: Corbyn facing mounting pressure to back amendment giving public fresh vote

MPs urge Labour leader to support backbench motion that would trigger 'confirmatory' referendum on May's deal

Jeremy Corbyn is facing mounting pressure to back a new amendment that would give the public a Final Say on Brexit.

The Labour leader is being urged to support a motion, tabled by Labour backbenchers Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson, that would involve backing Theresa May’s Brexit plan providing she agrees to put it to another referendum.

The amendment is expected to be voted on by MPs when Ms May puts her revised deal before the Commons on or before 12 March.

The Labour leadership is understood to have concerns about the motion because it would involve the party supporting Ms May’s deal.

Senior figures, including shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, are in talks to find a wording that could win the support of MPs from across the party.

Pressure to find a solution was raised after two of the three Labour MP representatives on the party’s National Executive Committee announced they were backing the plan.

Derby South MP Margaret Beckett, a former deputy Labour leader, and George Howarth, MP for Knowsley, said the Kyle-Wilson amendment was “the most credible way forward” and “compatible with Labour Party policy”.

Writing exclusively for The Independent, they said: “When the prime minister brings back her deal in the next week or so, she will try to impose a choice on MPs: my deal or no deal.

“That is a choice we, the Labour Party and the majority in parliament must reject. The future of our country is too important for us to have to pick between bad and really bad. We need another option.

“Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to throw his backing behind a public vote provides a way through this crisis. Jeremy is right. The public should have the Final Say.”

They continued: “The question now is how MPs can work together to bring about that public vote. We believe the plan put forward by our Labour colleagues Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson is the most credible way forward. It offers a sensible compromise.

“We believe the prime minister’s deal is flawed. However, we are willing to accept it on the condition that it is put back to the people to approve or reject. If the public choose to approve the deal, then we will leave on the government’s terms and we will help facilitate the passage of the necessary laws to implement the deal. If the public reject it, then we remain in the European Union.”

The pair insisted the plan was “compatible with Labour Party policy for a public vote between a credible Leave option and Remain” and said it was “in line with what Jeremy Corbyn told the House of Commons on Tuesday”.

Mr Corbyn had said that, if Ms May’s deal is approved by parliament, “there must be a confirmatory public vote to see if people feel that that is what they voted for”.

The Labour leadership had previously resisted pressure to support another referendum but last week announced it would pivot towards backing a Final Say vote if its own Brexit plan was rejected by MPs, which it was on Wednesday.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, later said the party would bring forward its own amendment on a fresh public vote when Ms May puts her revised deal before the Commons.

He told ITV: “When the meaningful vote comes back – and we are told maybe that might be on 12 March – there are rumours today that it could be next week … That’s the time when we will have to put the amendment up.

He insisted there was “a chance” such an amendment would pass, saying: “People are worried about their constituencies, they’re worried about jobs, they’re worried about the economy.

“Either a deal will go through which will protect jobs and the economy or, to get some deal through, it will be conditional on going back to the people.”