Labour will push for a new EU referendum when the Government brings its Brexit plans to the Commons in the coming days.
And shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer left open the possibility the party could back Boris Johnson’s deal if a new national poll was attached to it.
Sir Keir insisted that any agreement approved by Parliament needed to be put to voters in a referendum and the party would back an amendment calling for one.
READ MORE: Johnson refuses to sign Brexit extension request to EU
The Labour heavyweight told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show: “We need an amendment to say that whatever deal gets through, it should be subject to a referendum.
“We have already voted, I think, three times as a party for a second referendum with a three-line whip behind it.
“The position we have adopted is whatever the outcome, whether it’s Boris Johnson’s bad deal or a better one which could be secured, it has got to go to a referendum up against remain.”
READ MORE: Scottish court rejects legal challenge over Boris Johnson's Brexit deal
Asked if Labour could back the Government’s deal if it came with the pledge of a new referendum, Sir Keir said: “Well, we’ll see what that looks like.
“What we are trying to achieve is that this deal in particular, but any deal, is put up against Remain in a referendum.
“And we will have to see tactically how we get there.”
Sir Keir said Labour would also push for a customs union.
He said: “We have been arguing for a very long time now for a customs union with the EU and for single market alignment.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel