European Election Results: Labour Signals Second Referendum Shift As Brexit Party Sweeps To Victory

Corbyn said: “With the Conservatives disintegrating and unable to govern, and parliament deadlocked, this issue will have to go back to the people, whether through a general election or a public vote.”

In a sign that he could consider a shift in position, he added: “Over the coming days we will have conversations across our party and movement, and reflect on these results on both sides of the Brexit divide.”

In a sign of how embarrassing the results were for Labour, the Lib Dems topped the poll in Islington, in north London – where both Corbyn and shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry are MPs.

Speaking as the disastrous results for Labour were emerging last night,  Thornberry told the BBC: “We should have said, quite simply, that any deal that comes out of this government should be put to a confirmatory referendum and that remain should be on the ballot paper and that Labour would campaign to remain.”

Instead, the party got a “kicking”, she said, because “we went into an election where the most important issue was ‘what was our view on leaving the European Union’ and we were not clear about it”.

Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson added on Twitter: “Following the disastrous EU election results, Labour urgently needs to re-think its Brexit position and realign with members and voters.”

High-profile Corbyn backer and author Paul Mason, meanwhile, led calls for more fundamental change in the party and, in what appeared to be a thinly veiled attack on Labour communications chief Seumas Milne, called for the party to “sack the officials responsible”.