Sarah Wollaston pushes for MPs' vote on second Brexit referendum

Sarah Wollaston and three other MPs with medical backgrounds are to put down an amendment to the meaningful final Brexit vote, calling for a second referendum in which remain is an option on the ballot paper.

The Conservative MP wants parliament to vote on holding another referendum as soon as possible and hopes to put pressure on the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and his frontbench to “come off the fence” and support a further public vote.

Wollaston said it was only by adding her “doctors’ amendment” to Theresa May’s motion that legal weight would be given to holding a second referendum, and without the amendment, MPs would be unable to force the government into holding one.

“People need to give valid informed consent,” Wollaston said, arguing that people did not fully understand the consequences and complexities of Brexit at the time of the 2016 referendum. “You can only give consent if you know what you are consenting to.”

But while a small but growing number of Conservatives back a second referendum, the Labour leadership has said it would only consider the idea if it cannot secure a Brexit deal it supports and has been unable to force a general election.

“It won’t happen unless Jeremy Corbyn supports it,” Wollaston said. “We need him to come off the fence. If the deal unravels subsequently it’s not clear if we’ll have the possibility to amend it.”

May’s meaningful vote is expected in mid-December, assuming the Brexit deal is signed off by the EU at a special summit this weekend. However, the idea of holding a parliamentary vote on a second referendum at the same time is not universally shared by campaigners on the subject.

Given Labour’s public position, crafted at the party’s annual conference, many Labour supporters of a second referendum have argued it is better to wait to see whether May’s Brexit deal is voted down, and only if a vote of no confidence fails, push for parliament to vote on going to the public again. Many Labour MPs will be reluctant to defy Corbyn if he does not change his mind on the issue.

A Labour source said: “If Sarah Wollaston pushes for a second referendum amendment at that time, she’ll lose. Even if Jeremy came out for it, not all Labour MPs would support it. The whip would not hold.”

Wollaston faces other obstacles. Although normal parliamentary procedure is for amendments to be voted on first, before MPs vote on the main motion, the government is expected to seek to introduce its own procedure via a business of the house motion.

One expectation is that ministers will seek to prevent amendments having potential legal force by having them debated as separate motions. The former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab had argued that parliament needed to give clear yes or no approval to May’s deal.

But it is unclear whether MPs will consent to using a special procedure, in what is likely to become the first test of parliamentary strength over Brexit. Last week, the Commons procedure committee, which advises on how to handle complex parliamentary situations, upheld the traditional amendment-first procedure.

If the traditional model of parliamentary procedure is used, it will be up to John Bercow, the Speaker, to decide whether a second referendum amendment can be accepted for debate. He will do so based on the amount of backers the amendment has in the Commons, with some Labour MPs questioning how many people Wollaston can recruit.

Wollaston, a former GP, has recruited three other doctors from across the political spectrum as supporters: Paul Williams from Labour , Philippa Whitford from the SNP and fellow Tory Phillip Lee, who resigned from the government over Brexit in June.

The doctors’ amendment is likely to have the support of the Liberal Democrats, although the party may put down its own second amendment motion as a backstop in case Wollaston withdraws hers under pressure from Tory party whips.