Emily Thornberry has warned that Brexit could crush the party like the Star Wars trash compactor.
She also said the party could lose 30% of its vote share to the Greens and Liberal Democrats , if it is not clear on its position on Europe.
The pro-Remain MP told a HuffPost fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Brighton that Remain voters’ positions on Brexit were their first priority when it comes to voting in an election.
She said: “Clearly the polling is there and does make the case that we are likely to lose many, many more people who voted Remain in the referendum than people who voted to Leave.
“The reasoning seems to be this: that amongst Leave voters on the whole there are a whole panoply of things which they need and they cannot get from any other government than a Labour government.
(Image: Elliott Franks)
“So they are aligned with us on all the things that matter to them on a day-to-day basis, and yes, we disagree with them on Brexit, but when it comes to Remain the Remain voters tend to have it as their first priority.
“And the polling does show that we could lose 30% of the Labour vote to the Greens and the Lib Dems unless we are clear about where we stand on Europe.
Her comments came ahead of a marathon meeting to thrash out out a fresh compromise on Labour’s Brexit policy.
A group made up of Shadow cabinet members and member and union delegates have the mammoth task of crunching the 90-something motions submitted to conference on Brexit down into a more manageable one or two.
That will then be voted on by the conference.
(Image: Anthony Harvey/REX)
Separately the ruling National Executive have agreed a statement which includes a commitment for a Labour government to agree a deal in three months and hold a referendum in six.
It would also involve holding a special conference on Brexit after an election – with Mr Corbyn taking a neutral position on the burning issue.
Emily Thornberry publicly dismissed the idea.
“I don’t see why we can’t make a decision now,” she said.
