Financial Times: Labour to try to add new referendum to Brexit deal

20 October 2019

Labour will seek to amend Boris Johnson’s Brexit legislation to put any final deal to a second referendum and to keep the UK in the EU customs union, shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said.

Sir Keir’s comments set the stage for a series of parliamentary battles to shape the prime minister’s deal — if Mr Johnson succeeds in winning a second reading vote on flagship Brexit legislation in the House of Commons on Tuesday.  Downing Street is confident it has the numbers to win the vote on the withdrawal agreement bill, which puts Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal into effect, including £33bn of divorce payments, the protection of EU citizens’ rights and a transition period.  But even if Mr Johnson wins the vote, Sir Keir said Labour and other opposition parties would not give up the fight and would support “inevitable” moves by backbench MPs to add a confirmatory referendum to the deal.  “A growing number of people now think the only way truly to settle this is to ask people: ‘Do you want to leave on these terms or would you rather remain?’” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme. [...]

Full article on Financial Times (subscription required)

Related article on The Independent: Brexit: More than 190,000 sign letter demanding Final Say referendum in less than 48 hours

Related editorial onThe Economist: Any deal struck between Britain and the EU should be put to voters


© Financial Times