Labour MP John Mann Comes Out For Brexit

Labour MP John Mann has thrown his support behind the campaign to leave the European Union, and says he thinks a majority of the party's voters could very well back a Brexit on 23 June.

In an open letter, the politician said too few Labour MPs were in favour of Brexit - and warned the party is "going to get a big shock across the country" when the referendum votes are counted.

Mr Mann, who hit the headlines in April for publicly confronting former London mayor Ken Livingstone over his comments about Adolf Hitler, said the historic vote was about "returning power to the people".

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He wrote in The Sun: "Labour MPs say they don't want to campaign to leave because they don't want to be on the same side as Nigel Farage and John Redwood.

"But this is about each family in Britain. It's about you. It's not about me, Farage or David Cameron.

"It's about what kind of country we want to live in in 20 or 30 years' time."

Mr Mann later told Sky News the EU was "fundamentally anti-democratic" and the free movement of people under EU rules means "we can't plan anything".

He said: "If you're a Labour voter, a former Labour voter, a would-be Labour voter, it's perfectly acceptable for you to be voting out, and you'll probably be in the majority of Labour voters, possibly the large majority, in doing so.

"It's because people think that democracy needs to be shifted back to Britain."

Mr Mann used his open letter announcing his decision to warn that EU migration was "undermining pay and conditions in working class communities" - and claimed an influx of workers from the continent had contributed to a rise in zero-hours contracts.

He added: "The reason I've concluded that we have to come out is it's impossible to change the EU from the inside.

"People want control over their own lives. They don't want people at a distance controlling their lives anymore."

Meawnhile, veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner has also confirmed he will vote for a Brexit.

Reacting to Mr Mann's announcement, Labour MP Yvette Cooper told Sky News: "If you look at the vast majority of Labour MPs, almost all Labour MPs and also party members across the country, there is strong support for being in Europe.

"The reason for that is because it's a good way to protect workers' rights, it's about protecting our jobs in our manufacturing communities, and it's also about that principle of solidarity - that we are stronger if we stand together than if we leave each other to sink or swim alone."