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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Oliver Milne

Brexit: Labour WILL back second referendum plan tonight in major Commons vote

Labour MPs will be told to back a motion tonight calling for a second referendum on leaving the European Union.

Multiple sources have confirmed to the Mirror that MPs will be whipped to back the plan when they take part in "indicative votes" on the Brexit options tonight.

The plan, by MPs including Dame Margaret Beckett and Peter Kyle, would require a public vote to confirm any Brexit deal that is passed by Parliament.

Some suggest that could be set up as a full-blown referendum between Remain and the Brexit deal.

It follows a furious and very public row which saw senior figures publicly disagree over whether the party would back the call in tonight's Brexit votes.

Labour will support Dame Margaret Beckett's proposal for a 'confirmatory' EU referendum (Empics Entertainment)

Brexit row deepens as Margaret Beckett says Labour WILL back referendum tonight  

It mean that prominent Labour frontbenchers who oppose a second referendum could be forced to change their minds or resign.

Dame Margaret Beckett said she believed Jeremy Corbyn had committed to backing her proposal to put any Brexit outcome to a public vote.

But there was confusion after Shadow Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner called the party's support for such a move into question, saying "it's not where our policy should be."

He added that backing a second referendum "implies that you are a remain party."

He would only say that Labour would back such a poll to "stop a no-deal or stop a bad deal," adding: "The Labour party is not a Remain party – we have accepted the result of the referendum.”

But this morning Mr Gardiner seemed to suggest they would not back the proposal (mirror.co.uk)

Theresa May blew £12k of our cash pushing speech accused of 'feeding far right'

A Labour party spokesman said: "In line with our policy, we're supporting motions to keep options on the table to prevent a bad Tory deal or no deal."

Indicative votes are a process by which MPs choose their favoured options on Brexit from a multiple-choice list.

The idea is to finally work out what Parliament might vote for, and not just what it might vote against.

The motion of Mrs Beckett's proposal reads: "That this House will not allow in this Parliament the implementation and ratification of any withdrawal agreement and any framework for the future relationship unless and until they have been approved by the people of the United Kingdom in a confirmatory public vote."

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