Brexit Pressure On Jeremy Corbyn As 10,000 Labour Members And Supporters Demand Second Referendum

While a recent YouGov poll found support for a second referendum as high as 75% among Labour voters, there has been little evidence of a shift toward remain overall. 

It comes as left-wing figures including the economist Ann Pettifor and TSSA union general secretary Manuel Cortes set up the Left EU Strategy and Policy Commission, a new group which will set out an alternative ‘remain and reform’ agenda it hopes Labour will adopt. 

Mike Buckley, director of Labour for a People’s Vote, who is among those on the new body, said: the “only democratic way ahead is a public vote”. 

He added: “A return to 2016, however, is not enough.

“Our country is in dire need of reform, all the more so after eight years of Tory austerity and failure. The Labour Party should use a people’s vote campaign to put forward a ‘remain and reform’ policy programme that, if enacted in government, would make both the UK and the EU fairer, more equal and more secure.

“We can only deal with the shared crises we face, including climate breakdown, global instability due to the increasing belligerence of Russia and the unpredictability of a US led by Donald Trump, and insecurity caused by an over-reliance on the market and a lack of public investment and control, by working together with our European partners.”