LABOUR’S Emily Thornberry has attacked her own party’s ardent Remainers for continuing to campaign to reverse the 2016 referendum.

As the dust settled on the crunch vote on the UK Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill – which is due to get Royal Assent next Tuesday – the Shadow Foreign Secretary suggested some of her Remainer colleagues were backing the option for Britain to stay in the European Economic Area[EEA] as a means of rolling back on the Brexit vote.

Last week, more than 70 Labour MPs defied Jeremy Corbyn to support an amendment to the Brexit bill calling for EEA membership.

Labour’s official policy is to maintain as close a relationship to the single market as possible but believes EEA membership or the so-called “Norway option” would not be right for Britain’s economy, making the country a rule-taker not a rule-maker.

Speaking to a journalists’ lunch at Westminster, Ms Thornberry pointed to the two extremes of the Brexit argument with, on the one side, the Tory Brexit European Research Group led by leading Leaver Jacob Rees-Mogg and the Back Together group, headed by leading Remainer and Labour MP Chukka Umunna.

“The truth is neither group actually cares what kind of deal we get and neither is genuinely interested in an honest debate about the merits of ‘max-fac’ or the EEA.

"On one side they would like simply to crash out without a deal and, on the other, their real driving mission is simply to reverse the democratic decision of the referendum.

"What I'd say to both groups is: if that's how you feel, why not be honest and simply say so rather than waste everyone's time debating options about the Northern Irish border that we all know will never work?”

The London MP made clear some people supported EEA membership because they felt it would provide a “safe port” amid the Brexit storm but others wanted it as “a cover” to keep Britain in the EU.

"I want to remain in the European Union,” she declared, “but I'm going to do as I'm told and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we get as good a deal as possible. But there are others who want to remain in the European Union and who are sometimes allowing themselves to indulge in things that are not realistic and who know that they're not and that's what's dishonest."

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the Brexit bill vote, Mr Rees-Mogg sought to counter suggestions from Remainers that the Government had made a major concession.

A ministerial statement made ahead of Wednesday’s vote underlined how it was for the Commons Speaker to decide if MPs got a "meaningful vote" on a no-deal withdrawal from the EU and that a debate and vote would be made available in Government time.

This was accepted by leading pro-EU Tory Dominic Grieve, who described it as an "obvious acknowledgement" of the sovereignty of Parliament over the Executive "in black and white language".

But Mr Rees-Mogg pointed out John Bercow would be bound by the rules of the House and so could not make an arbitrary decision.

He explained any motion that could be amended, and so was not neutral, would not have legal force and would simply be an expression of opinion; in other words, UK ministers could press on regardless.

Meanwhile, on a visit to Dublin Jean-Claude Juncker warned the UK that there would be no Brexit deal without agreement on the Irish border.

"I am strongly against any temptation to isolate Ireland and not to conclude the deal on Ireland. Ireland has to be part of the deal," declared the European Commission President.

But the DUP's Nigel Dodds accused the Commission of selfishly using the Republic as a "bargaining chip" in the negotiations.