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Jeremy Corbyn rules out second EU referendum

'You have to respect the decision people made' Labour leader says

Samuel Osborne
Sunday 07 August 2016 15:50 BST
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Jeremy Corbyn MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP (Getty)

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Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out a second European Union referendum and said he will not seek to change the "Brexit" vote.

The public "clearly have said 'no'" to remaining in the EU, Mr Corbyn said, rejecting Owen Smith's promise to hold a second referendum if he is elected leader of the Labour Party.

“I think we’ve had a referendum, a decision has been made, you have to respect the decision people made," the Labour leader told The Huffington Post UK.

"We were given the choice, we after all supported holding a referendum so we must abide by the decision.

“Does that mean that we don’t have a future relationship with the European Union? No, it means the opposite. There has to be a very strong relationship so I think there has to be a question of access to the single European market.”

Mr Corbyn has been accused of "undermining" and "sabotaging" the campaign to keep Britain in the EU by Peter Mandelson.

Lord Mandelson told the BBC: We were greatly damaged by Jeremy Corbyn's stance, no doubt at all about that. Not only was he most of the time absent from the battle, but he was holding back the efforts of Alan Johnson and the Labour In campaign.

"I mean they felt undermined, at times they felt actually their efforts were being sabotaged by Jeremy Corbyn and the people around him.”

Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith clash at Labour's leadership hustings

The Labour leader's comments came after Mr Smith, who resigned as shadow Work and Pensions Secretary during the revolt against Mr Corbyn's leadership, said the public will want "another chance" to vote on the deal.

"That does mean a second referendum or a general election when the terms are clear," he told The Guardian. "The Labour Government should be committing to that.

"There are many people out there who voted in good faith for Brexit and who felt they were doing the right thing for their families and their communities and I respect them for taking that decision.

"But I think a lot of people I know are now saying to themselves, ‘It wasn’t the right decision.’ A lot of people are angry that they were quite clearly misled by the Brexit campaign."

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