Labour will back new referendum 'to prevent damaging Tory Brexit', Jeremy Corbyn announces

Jeremy Corbyn - Image credit: House of Commons/PA Wire/PA Images

Labour will back a second EU referendum "to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country", Jeremy Corbyn has announced.

In a move which will delight pro-EU Labour MPs, Corbyn also confirmed the party will back Yvette Cooper and Oliver Letwin's bid to delay Brexit when it is voted on in the Commons on Wednesday.

The Labour leader has been under pressure to throw his weight behind the campaign for a so-called ‘People's Vote’ in line with the policy passed at the party's annual conference last year.

He announced the major shift at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party in the oak-panelled Committee Room 14 of the House of Commons.

Corbyn accused the Prime Minister of "recklessly running down the clock" by delaying the next meaningful vote on her Brexit deal until 12 March.

He said Labour will put the party's own Brexit policy, which calls for a permanent customs union and close alignment with the single market - to a vote in the Commons on Wednesday.

The Labour leader said: "We will also be backing the Cooper-Letwin amendment to rule out a No Deal outcome.

“One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no deal and oppose a damaging Tory Brexit based on Theresa May’s overwhelmingly-rejected deal. 

"That’s why, in line with our conference policy, we are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country."

Labour MP David Lammy, of the People’s Vote campaign, said: "It is welcome news that the Labour party is now, at long last, signalling it will accept the principle of giving the public the final say on Brexit.

"Even if MPs can agree some sort of deal, it would be wrong to force it on the British people when we now know so many of the promises made in 2016 have been broken and any deal will be worse than the one we’ve already got inside the EU.

"These are dangerous times for the Labour party and our country.

“Jeremy Corbyn is today taking the first step to reunite our party by showing he is listening to our voters and members on this, the biggest issue of our time."