John McDonnell agrees Labour support for new Brexit referendum is ‘inevitable’

Labour’s John McDonnell believes it is “inevitable” his party will soon back another referendum on Brexit.

In an interview on Wednesday afternoon, the shadow chancellor gave the clearest indication yet Labour will fully endorse another vote on the UK’s relationship with the EU.

Labour’s official position is it would push for a general election if Theresa May is unable to get her Brexit deal through Parliament.

But McDonnell told the BBC he believes the Fixed Term Parliament Act has made that unlikely, as either two-thirds of MPs need to back an election, or the government needs to lose a vote of confidence.

McDonnell said: “We want a deal that will protect jobs and the economy. If we can’t achieve that – the government can’t achieve that – we should have a general election but that’s very difficult to do because of the nature of the legislation that David Cameron brought forward.

“If that’s not possible, we’ll be calling upon the government then to join us in a public vote. It’s difficult to judge each stage, but that’s the sequence I think that we’ll inevitably go through over this period.

When asked if he believed it would “inevitable” that another referendum would take place if a general election couldn’t be forced, McDonnell replied: “That’s right. Our policy is if we can’t get a general election, then the other option which we’ve kept on the table is a people’s vote.”

A Labour source told CityAM: "There is definitely no change in our position. We want a general election, but, as we agreed at conference, all options are on the table, including campaigning for a public vote"

Labour’s exact position on a second referendum is still somewhat unclear, with the party putting out conflicting messages during its party conference in September.

McDonnell claimed in a radio interview the option to remain should not be on the ballot paper, whereas shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer deviated from his pre-released conference speech script to say the public should have that choice.

The slight shift in Labour position on Wednesday came just hours after the government released analysis of a series of Brexit outcomes, each showing the UK’s economy would be small after leaving the EU than if it stayed in.

Chancellor Philip Hammond admitted the UK would be poorer after Brexit even with May’s deal.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, he said: “If you look at this purely from an economic point of view there will be a cost to leaving the European Union because there will be impediments to our trade.”