Labour at war over second Brexit vote: Sadiq Khan says pledge may be in manifesto, as Corbyn gags Labour conference

Jeremy Corbyn's bid to gag the debate on Brexit at the Labour conference was disintegrating today as senior party figures fought to open the door to a second EU referendum.

Mayor Sadiq Khan vowed to press for a commitment to a second national vote to be included in the next manifesto. Shadow cabinet members refused to rule this out.

There were also claims that shadow chancellor John McDonnell had left the possibility wide open when he gave a private briefing to business leaders at the gathering in Brighton.

In an interview with the Standard, Mr Khan said it was “possible” that Labour’s next manifesto will pledge to let voters choose whether to accept a leaving deal or stay in the EU.

“I’d have my tuppence worth as Mayor of London,” he said, and made clear he did not see any Brexit deal emerging that would be good enough to accept without offering a second referendum. “I so far have not been persuaded how this Government has a plan that works for our country,” he said.

Kezia Dugdale, Labour’s former leader in Scotland, said a second referendum was vital to keep faith with the public. “If the UK Parliament and the other 27 nations of Europe get a final say on the deal, why shouldn’t we?” she asked in the Daily Record.

“No one voted to be poorer but that’s what we’re all going to be. Brexit is spiralling out of control and out of the interests of working people. That’s why we the people should take back control with a final vote on the deal.”

Andrew Gwynne, the shadow communities secretary, who is highly rated by Mr Corbyn, refused to rule out a second referendum vote.

He said: “Who knows where we will be at the end of this process, at March 2019? Certainly Parliament, at the very least, wants to have that final say over what deal Theresa May comes back with.”

Mr Gwynne said there would have to be a “very serious discussion” about a referendum if the Prime Minister failed to achieve an acceptable deal.

“It may well be that the Government comes back with no deal, and it is Labour Party policy that no deal is the worst possible kind of result for the United Kingdom,” he said. “I think in that event we would have to have a very serious discussion about how we take that forward.”

Yesterday Mr Corbyn’s team managed to stop a full debate taking place on EU issues at the conference.

In particular they wanted to avoid a vote on whether Labour should support European free movement, to which the leadership is hostile but some three quarters of members support.

Labour’s EU policy was meticulously stitched together over the summer by Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, to keep the party’s options open in case Brexit turns bad before the next general election.

A shadow cabinet source said: “It took very high-level political manoeuvring by Keir to get us to this point and the plan is to rule nothing in or out for the future.”

A source close to Mr McDonnell denied he had voiced any backing to the idea of a second referendum at last night’s briefing.

However, a conference-goer said business leaders had left the event with the impression that another vote was a possibility.

Today, the shadow chancellor admitted that the pound could come under pressure if Labour takes power. He said the party had to prepare for an “assault” by opponents in the City, media and Parliament.

At a fringe event he said the party had to “scenario-plan” with experts. Acknowledging that those possibilities included capital flight, he said: “What happens if there a run on the pound?

“I don’t think there will [be], but you never know, so we’ve got to scenario-plan for that... people want to know we are ready and they want to know we have got a response to everything that could happen. Because if we can demonstrate that, that will calm things down.”

Mr McDonnell said that if Labour had won the June election then MPs would already be legislating for new taxes as part of measures aimed at raising £48 billion.