Jeremy Corbyn is under growing pressure from members of his party to declare his full backing for a second Brexit referendum after Labour saw its share of the vote slump to just 14 per cent in European parliamentary elections.
The Labour leadership was shocked by the scale of its defeat as its policy of supporting a soft exit from the EU while pushing for a general election with the “option” of a second referendum failed to resonate with voters.
The party lost votes to the Liberal Democrats in Remain areas, to the Brexit Party in Leave areas and to pro-EU nationalist rivals in Scotland and Wales. Mr Corbyn’s own constituency of Islington backed the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats.
As the results sank in on Monday, Mr Corbyn promised to launch a consultation with the party membership to assess the demand for a change in Brexit policy and “bring the issue back” to the party’s autumn conference.
He also said for the first time that he could back a second referendum on “any” deal, while insisting that his first priority was to force a general election rather than a rerun of the 2016 Brexit vote.
But many Labour MPs are calling for an urgent shift to backing a second referendum. “The end of September is too late to change course, it could be only a month from no deal,” said one Labour figure. “The membership are up in arms already. That would enrage them further.”
David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, said Labour had tried to “ride two horses” in the European elections. “We fell flat on our faces and got trampled. We now need to get our act together and campaign boldly and proudly for Remain.”
A number of senior MPs, including Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary, and Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit secretary, also begged Mr Corbyn to back a second referendum.
Tom Watson, the deputy leader, said: “Labour urgently needs to rethink its Brexit position and realign with members and voters.”
As the party’s losses became apparent, activists and European parliamentary candidates complained about the party’s convoluted campaign message and a lack of support from head office. “The leaflets with Jeremy’s face on, but hardly anything about Europe and less about a referendum, were bad,” said one party activist.
“People like our domestic programme but they didn’t understand our position on Brexit,” said one MP.
The results left some of Mr Corbyn’s most fervent supporters trading barbs on Twitter, with leftwing economist Paul Mason, who backs Remain, calling on the Labour leader to sack some aides. “The strategy was wrong, the execution was wrong, the communication was wrong,” he said.
He was accused of a “shocking response” by Ian Lavery, party chairman. “You should be totally ashamed of yourself,” he said.
Despite the pressure, the party leadership remains divided on how to respond. John McDonnell, shadow chancellor and Mr Corbyn’s oldest political ally, gave qualified support for a rerun of the 2016 Brexit vote.
“Of course we want a general election but realistically, after last night there aren’t many Tory MPs that are going to vote for a general election — that would be like turkeys voting for Christmas — so our best way of doing that I think is going back to the people in a referendum and I think that’s what our members want,” he said.
He added: “So we’re saying quite clearly, if there can be a deal, great but it needs to go back to the people. If it’s a no-deal we have got to block it and the way we’re doing that is going back to the public and arguing the case against it.”
But a number of the party’s senior figures still believe that a shift to a pure Remain position could cost the party support in the Labour heartlands, where some 3m people backed Leave in 2016. A majority, 35 out of 50, of the party’s target seats at the next election voted Leave in the 2016 referendum.
Len McCluskey, head of Unite the Union, urged his colleagues to “hold our nerve” and wait for a general election. “Labour losing votes, as we expected,” he tweeted. “But these elections aren’t relevant to where we are now.”
Caroline Flint, MP for Don Valley, said the leadership needed to take note of the rise of the Brexit Party: “I want to hear Labour spokespeople reflect on what is happening in our heartlands like Wakefield,” she said.
