Labour frontbencher reignites row to call for new Brexit referendum

Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Smith breaks ranks to question 'if Brexit remains the right choice for our country'

A Labour frontbencher has called for a new referendum on the final Brexit deal, in a move that will set him at odds with Jeremy Corbyn over the party's approach to Europe.

Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Smith, a former challenger to Mr Corbyn, urged the leadership to consider "if Brexit remains the right choice for the country" and to offer a vote to the public once negotiations have concluded.

Brexit has caused deep divisions within the Labour ranks, as the party tries to square the demands of its pro-EU supporters with Leave voters in its traditional heartlands.

However Mr Corbyn has repeatedly opposed efforts to bring about a further Brexit referendum, making it clear that he believes the 2016 result must be honoured.

Writing in The Guardian, Mr Smith said: "Labour needs to do more than just back a soft Brexit or guarantee a soft border in Ireland.

"Given that it is increasingly obvious that the promises the Brexiters made to the voters – especially, but not only, their pledge of an additional £350m a week for the NHS – are never going to be honoured, we have the right to keep asking if Brexit remains the right choice for the country.

"And to ask, too, that the country has a vote on whether to accept the terms, and true costs of that choice, once they are clear."

In comments likely to reignite party splits, Mr Smith said the only way to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland was to remain in the single market and the customs union, an issue at the heart of the Brexit debate.

Last month, the Labour leader sought to draw a clear dividing line with the Tories by finally backing efforts to keep Britain in a European customs union after it leaves the bloc. However Labour's policy does not extend to supporting remaining in the single market.

Mr Smith said the openness of the Irish border was an important symbol of the peace process and it would be "madness" to put lives at risk in Northern Ireland by reigniting old divisions from the Troubles.

"The damage a disorderly and ill-thought-out Brexit could do in Ireland is enormous," he said. "We are often told Brexit threatens to ‘reimpose’ a so-called hard border on the island of Ireland, but that understates the problem. Because the economic border that a hard Brexit would impose on Ireland would be the hardest ever.”

He went on: "If we insist on leaving the EU then there is realistically only one way to honour our obligations under the Good Friday agreement and that is to remain members of both the customs union and the single market.

"I’m pleased my party has taken a big step in this direction by backing continued customs union membership, but we need to go further."

The comments came after more than 80 senior Labour figures warned Mr Corbyn that leaving the EU single market could scupper his efforts to ease austerity through a "multibillion pound hit to the public finances", making the party's manifesto plans for schools, hospitals and social care unaffordable.

The alliance, which included prominent figures such as Chuka Umunna and Lord Kinnock, told Mr Corbyn that Labour would "never be forgiven" if it backed leaving the single market.

Meanwhile, Theresa May has received as endorsement from EU leaders for a transition deal, which clears the way for talks on future trade and security to begin.