Jeremy Corbyn rules out second Brexit referendum

Jeremy Corbyn has insisted that Labour will not stand in the way of Britain’s vote to exit the European Union and ruled out a second referendum.

In one of the clearest indications yet that he will not seek to overturn the result of the June 23 poll, the Labour leader said voters had “clearly said no” and that the decision the people made must be respected.

His comment comes days after he was repeatedly challenged by leadership rival Owen Smith to join him in demanding a second referendum on whatever deal emerges from Brexit negotiations.

The former shadow welfare secretary wants the British people to have another chance to back the case to either leave or remain in the European Union once the government’s proposals for the future terms of trade are laid out.

Corbyn, who until recently supported leaving the EU, said: “They [the people] clearly have said no. Is there a way of having a European Economic Area agreement, possibly via Norway and other countries? Yeah, there probably is.”

The Labour leader’s comments came as he was being accused by leading lights in the Remain campaign of sabotaging their hopes of persuading the UK to support EU membership.

Asked whether he thought that it would be undemocratic to seek to overturn the result, either through a second referendum or an election, Mr Corbyn told the Huffington Post: “I think we've had a referendum, a decision has been made, you have to respect the decision people made. We were given the choice, we after all supported holding a referendum so we must abide by the decision.”

”Does that mean that we don't have a future relationship with the European Union? No, it means the opposite. There has to be a very strong relationship so I think there has to be a question of access to the single European market.”

Pressed on whether there was any question of keeping the UK's EU membership, the Labour leader said: “They clearly have said 'no'. Is there a way of having a European Economic Area agreement, possibly via Norway and other countries? Yeah there probably is.”

The head of the official remain campaign, former Labour election candidate Will Straw, said in an interview with the BBC for a programme on the referendum to be aired on Monday, that he felt “let down” by Corbyn’s “lukewarm” support in the referendum. Straw complained that it had taken him six months to secure a meeting with one of the leader’s advisers.

Former European commissioner Lord Mandelson also told the BBC that remain campaigners were left puzzling over whether Corbyn, who told a chat show during the campaign that he would only rate the EU seven out of 10, really wanted Britain to stay in the 28-nation bloc.

The Labour peer told the programme, Brexit – The Battle for Britain: “It was very difficult to know what Jeremy Corbyn’s motives were. Did he just sort of get out of bed the wrong side every day and not feel [in a] very sort of friendly, happy mood and want to help us?