Jeremy Corbyn sacks Owen Smith after frontbencher called for Labour to consider abandoning Brexit

Jeremy Corbyn has sacked his one-time leadership rival Owen Smith after he said Labour should consider abandoning Brexit.

Mr Smith has been replaced as shadow Northern Ireland secretary after he claimed Labour had “the right to keep asking if Brexit remains the right choice for the country” as he split from official party policy.

Mr Smith had also called for the UK to remain in the single market and for the British people to be given a vote on the final withdrawal deal struck with Brussels - neither of which are Labour Party positions.

Mr Corbyn was under pressure from Brexit-backing Labour MPs to remove Mr Smith from the shadow cabinet.

He has appointed Tony Lloyd, the shadow housing minister, as Mr Smith’s replacement.

Mr Smith said: “Just been sacked by Jeremy Corbyn for my long held views on the damageBrexit will do to the Good Friday Agreement and the economy of the entire UK.

“Those views are shared by Labour members & supporters and I will continue to speak up for them, and in the interest of our country."

The decision to sack Mr Smith for deviating from the official party line led to accusations of a "terrible Stalinist purge" from former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Hain.

 MP Chuka Umunna said: "It's quite bizarre for him to be sacked from his post for expressing views that were well known about before his appointment - but also for expressing views that the overwhelming majority of our voters and members support."

However, Diane Abbott, the Shadow home secretary, defended the dismissal.

"Owen Smith was a valued colleague, he wanted to make a contribution to the debate and he will be able to continue to do so.

"What he can't do is sit on our front bench and advance a position which is simply not Labour Party policy."

Ms Abbott herself wrote to constituents in November saying she would "argue for the right of the electorate to vote" on the Brexit deal.

But she told BBC Radio 4's Any Questions: "We have debated this in the Labour Party, debated it seriously because we take the referendum result seriously.

"But we are not calling for a second referendum."

Mr Smith had written in a column published by The Guardian on Friday morning that "Labour needs to do more than just back a soft Brexit or guarantee a soft border in Ireland". 

“Given that it is increasingly obvious that the promises the Brexiters made to the voters – especially, but not only, their pledge of an additional £350m a week for the NHS – are never going to be honoured, we have the right to keep asking if Brexit remains the right choice for the country," he wrote. 

“And to ask, too, that the country has a vote on whether to accept the terms, and true costs of that choice, once they are clear.

“That is how Labour can properly serve our democracy and the interests of our people.”

Graham Stringer, a Brexiteer Labour MP, had called for Mr Smith to be removed from the shadow cabinet over the comments. 

Mr Stringer said Mr Smith’s proposal to hold a second referendum had already been rejected by party members when he lost his Labour leadership challenge against Mr Corbyn in 2016.

He said: “He and a small number of Labour MPs are determined to try to overturn the decision made in 2016.

“They are doing it by a campaign of misinformation and demoralisation. They simply do not accept that leaving the EU means taking control of our trade policy, our borders and our money which is what people voted for.”

Meanwhile, the Labour Leave campaign group said Mr Smith had called for a second referendum “because he wants to incentivise the EU to offer us the worst possible deal in the hope he can overturn the result he didn't like”.

Labour’s current Brexit policy would see the UK strike a customs union deal with the EU and quit the single market.

The party is not calling for a second Brexit referendum.

Mr Smith said remaining in the single market would ensure there was not a return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit.

He said: “If we insist on leaving the EU then there is realistically only one way to honour our obligations under the Good Friday agreement and that is to remain members of both the customs union and the single market.

“I’m pleased my party has taken a big step in this direction by backing continued customs union membership, but we need to go further.”

Steve Baker, a Brexit minister, said: “Just as we secure important progress on Brexit by agreeing an implementation period with the EU, Labour are once again trying to frustrate the Brexit process.

“These comments show that on one of the biggest issues facing the country, Labour have no interest in making a success of it, betraying millions of Labour voters.

“Only the Conservatives are getting on with delivering what British people voted for, taking back control of our laws, borders and money.”