Withdrawal Agreement Bill should include a public vote, says shadow Brexit secretary
The shadow Brexit secretary has called on the government to add a public vote to the Brexit legislation that MPs are set to vote on in June.
Sir Keir Starmer believes that the inclusion of a second referendum in a withdrawal agreement bill would "break the impasse" between the Conservatives and Labour, after discussions ended without an agreement this week.
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Prime minister Theresa May admitted she would consider different options to put to MPs to see which were most popular and Labour's preference is for either changes to the current deal or an election, but it would also support the option of a public vote if neither of the other two are possible.
Starmer told the BBC that the government should go back to the EU and seek "further changes to the political declaration".
He added: "Or of course they could seek to break the impasse by putting a confirmatory vote on the face of a bill.
"But whatever happens they have to find a way of breaking the impasse. We've got five and a half months which seems like quite a long time but in reality, once we get to the summer recess, we've only got only two weeks in September and two weeks in October."
MPs will vote on May's EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill on the week beginning 3 June.
It will be the second reading vote on the bill, and is the first opportunity for MPs to debate it.
If it is not passed by Parliament, the default position is that the UK will leave the EU without a deal on 31 October.
Starmer also said that Labour will vote against the bill.
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"If that bill goes through second reading and then collapses at third reading we are then up against the cliff edge in October, which is why we've said we'll vote against that at second reading if there isn't an agreed deal before we start," he said.
"I don't accept that (it will make no deal more likely). What we can't do is keep on buying another week at a time which is what the prime minister has been doing for months."