Labour's Owen Smith says it would be ‘tempting’ to stop Brexit if Prime Minister

‘I don’t think we should accept that we’re on a definite path out’

Owen Smith, who has cancelled the planned launch of his Labour leadership campaign in the wake of the latest terror attack in France (PA)

Labour leadership hopeful Owen Smith has said it would be “tempting” to stop the UK from leaving the EU if he became Prime Minister.

The former shadow Work and Pensions Secretary launched his bid to replace Jeremy Corbyn as the Leader of the Opposition on Sunday morning, after deciding at short notice to postpone the announcement on Friday out of respect for victims of the atrocity in Nice.

Mr Smith follows former shadow Secretary of State Angela Eagle in challenging Mr Corbyn.

Asked on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show whether he would trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally beginning the process of the UK’s divorce from the EU, if he was Prime Minister and the process had not been started, Mr Smith said: “I think that would be very tempting for the Labour Party as we are a party that believes in being in the EU.

“I don’t think it’s a binary choice because the reality is we don’t know what those terms are going to look like. Now if it’s next month I think it will be very difficult for the Labour Party.”

Mr Smith also raised the idea of a second EU referendum after the terms of a Brexit deal had been fully finalised.

“We need to come to some idea of what we’re actually getting,” he said. “We need to negotiate right now, I don’t think we should accept that we’re on a definite path out. I think we need to make sure people are satisfied with that.

“We trusted people, rightly, to take the decision; we can trust them again in 18 months’ time to check whether it’s absolutely what they wanted.”

A former member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Mr Smith also said he will vote to renew Trident in a Commons' vote on Monday.

“I want a world without nuclear weapons altogether, but I don't think we hasten that by divesting,” he said, adding that he would be prepared to press the nuclear “button” as Prime Minster.

Mr Smith also said as Prime Minister he would raise taxes on the richest in society, adding: “"We need to completely overhaul our tax system”.

Despite calls from both Mr Smith and Ms Eagle that the Brexit deal, when finalised, should be put to the people in either a referendum or in an election, a ComRes opinion poll for The Independent found public opinion for such a demand was low, with 57 per cent rejecting the idea.

Furthermore, nearly half of the population, 46 per cent, agreed that Prime Minister Theresa May did not need to face a general election to get support for her programme as the “Conservatives were elected for a five-year term”.