Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, has said that the new Brexit referendum should respect the outcome of the 2016 referendum by not including a Remain option but instead, to focus ‘on the deal itself’.
The Labour Party has been pushing for a people’s vote over a second referendum for some time now.
McDonnell stated that if a general election does not occur, then he would support the second referendum. However, he said that while this was a decision which needed to be taken by Parliament, a second referendum should be released as it will only cover the deal itself.
On Monday morning, at the Brexit vote conference in Liverpool, he stated:
“If we are going to respect the last referendum, it will be about the deal, it will a negotiation on the deal… Parliament will determine the nature of the question that will be put, but the first stage of that is to see if we can get a deal that is acceptable and brings the country together again. And I’ve always thought we could.”
On the other hand however, Michael Chessum, one of the main organisers of the Brexit vote conference, held a different opinion on the matter.
He believed that if a second referendum were to actually take place, the option to remain in the EU should be included. He deemed its absence “preposterous”.
“The Brexit motion set to be debated by conference, which is backed and negotiated by the leadership, clearly keeps remain on the table. That was a key element of what was agreed in negotiating the motion.”
He added, “This idea that any future referendum would not include a remain option is preposterous; if we’re committing to a public vote, it would be an insult to the public not to trust them with all options. All options are on the table and that includes staying in that EU.”
