The Labour leader, who has been in talks with the Prime Minister over Brexit for the past week, has made clear on several occasions he is not in favour of a second referendum under any circumstances. But speaking at a live recording of Politico’s EU Confidential podcast in London on Sunday, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry warned any deal with Theresa May would prove to be controversial. She demanded an agreement between the rival parties be put to a second referendum, and claimed Labour MPs from Leave-supporting constituencies are “misunderstanding” their own voters.
Ms Thornberry said: “The question will be — is this what anybody wants? Or do we end up with a compromise that just makes everybody unhappy?
“I think whatever it is, it will be controversial. And I think that in those circumstances, it’s right for us to be saying to the British people: ‘During that referendum, did you vote for this? Do you want this? When you said you wanted to leave, did you want to leave like this?’”
Labour is becoming increasingly split over whether any new deal between the Tories and Labour should go to a referendum.
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According to Politico, some MPs in the party are worried such a strategy is highly risky, particularly in Labour constituencies which voted for Brexit.
The report added those ministers also worry holding a referendum resulting in the UK remaining in the EU would be seen as a betrayal by Brexit-backing Labour voters.
But Ms Thornberry said: “I think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding sometimes.
“Because sometimes people think that they come from a ‘Leave seat’ and a ‘Leave seat’ might be a seat where 65 percent of the population in the referendum voted to leave.
“But the reality for a Labour MP is that if 65 percent voted to leave, what proportion of the 35 percent, the Remainers, voted Labour?
“I think it’s important sometimes for people to kind of just remember and to segment their vote and to remember that the vast majority of Labour voters want to remain.”
She added: “For people to think ‘the decisions that I make must be made on the basis that I come from a Leave seat,’ and just like, you know, for me, if I was to make a decision on the basis that my seat is a Remain seat, that would be wrong.
“What you have to do if you’re in the national leadership is do what’s right for the country as a whole.”
Talks between the opposition parties are continuing today, despite Jeremy Corbyn admitting he and Mrs May have yet to come to a compromise over a possible Brexit deal.
The Labour leader has called on the Government to be more flexible regarding red lines in talks.
Ahead of further talks between his team and Government minister on Tuesday, involving the likes of Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Environment Secretary Michael Gove, the Labour leader said: “The Prime Minister has not yet moved off her red lines so we can reach a compromise.”
Last week, signs Labour was facing further turmoil came when Ms Thornberry first went against the party’s leader to demand a referendum on any deal that could break the Brexit deadlock.
In an open letter published by the New Statesman, she told her Labour comrades that “Any deal must be subject to a public vote”.
The letter said: “I won’t be able to be at the Emergency Shadow Cabinet later. But assuming one of the main topics of discussion will be whether to insist that any proposed compromise deal we agree to support will be subject to a confirmatory public vote, with “Remain” as the other alternative.
“The reason I think that is fundamental is that – if that is the outcome – those of us who oppose it can only take collective responsibility for the decision – and defend it in public and on the media – if we are having to go along with what was democratically agreed between us, whether we personally agreed or not, especially given the breach of our commitments to our members at conference.”
