Labour shadow minister Dr Rosena Allin-Khan tells Jeremy Corbyn: Show some mettle on Brexit

Shadow Sports Minister Dr Rosena Allin-Khan
REUTERS

Jeremy Corbyn was today told to show stronger leadership on Brexit by one of his own front-benchers.

Shadow sports minister Rosena Allin-Khan said millions of people were crying out “for Labour to show leadership” by coming off the fence on the crucial issue of a second referendum.

The Tooting MP told the Evening Standard that Mr Corbyn had a chance to become “the leading voice” in the campaign if he would answer the call.

“Millions of voters have been left feeling politically abandoned because of Brexit,” said the rising Labour star, a former A&E doctor.

“Labour members and supporters are looking for Labour to show leadership. Jeremy Corbyn can become the leading voice in the campaign for a public vote, really shaping what the referendum would look like.”

Under pressure on Brexit: Jeremy Corbyn
Sky News

Ms Allin-Khan is the first shadow minister to break ranks in public since this week’s landmark Commons votes which shredded Theresa May’s Brexit deal but then rejected Mr Corbyn’s no-confidence motion designed to trigger an election.

She said the failure of the no-confidence motion had changed the political landscape. “Now the hope of a General Election has been rejected, we need to follow the democratic decision taken at Labour conference and call for a public vote,” she said.

In a push-back against mounting pressure on the Labour leader to back a referendum, it was today reported that up to a dozen unnamed junior shadow ministers from Leave-voting constituencies would resign if he did.

One told the Guardian that blocking Brexit would “break a link with millions of our traditional voters who expect us to keep our word”. But pro-referendum campaigners took the battle to Mr Corbyn’s constituency by paying £3,000 to run a front page advert in his local newspaper, the Islington Tribune, along with an open letter from 100 young supporters pleading: “We need you to back a public vote.”

Ms Allin-Khan said Labour could not afford to be “out of tune” with millions of young voters opposed to being taken out of the EU. “We are a party that galvanised the vote of young people across the country at the last election,” she said. “These young people want us to boldly stand up and speak out for them.” The MP said that working in the health service — her most recent shifts were last Sunday and on New Year’s Day at her local St George’s emergency department — taught her the importance of European talent to the NHS workforce.

“During my shift on Sunday night, I was struck by the Italian, Spanish and Irish nurses who ‘give their all’ every day to serve the British people” she said.I am proud St George’s has vowed to pay for the visas, post-Brexit, of these much-valued staff. However, the financial burden should not fall on hospital trusts.”

At last year’s Labour conference, Mr Corbyn fended off pressure to back a referendum by pushing through a policy that put seeking a general election first, with other options to be considered if that failed. But the open letter in his local newspaper, organised by youth group Our Future, Our Choice, said: “We don’t want you to collude with Tories to pass a second-rate Brexit deal that gives us a second-rate future.”

Organiser Cathleen Clarke said: “Jeremy Corbyn has a choice. He can allow a Tory Brexit deal to pass, by supporting it directly or letting his MPs vote for it, or he can back a public vote. Young people, particularly young Labour activists, members, and supporters, desperately want him to do the latter.”

Mr Corbyn’s authority took a blow yesterday when senior Labour MPs defied his edict to boycott Government-led cross-party talks towards a Brexit agreement until Mrs May took no-deal “off the table”.Ex-minister David Lammy said this week that if Mr Corbyn “sits on the fence, I’m afraid he is going to get splinters in places he doesn’t want”. Former shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said that he could be making a “historic mistake”.