SNP MP mocks Labour’s Brexit stance
Labour’s Paul Sweeney insisted his party would fight any snap general election campaign under a Remain banner despite Jeremy Corbyn’s long record of ambivalence on the subject.
Appearing on BBC Radio Scotland today, Mr Sweeney was asked if this meant a future Labour Government could spend “six months” negotiating a new deal - only to then campaign against it in a second referendum.
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Hide AdThe MP for Glasgow North East said: “It is incumbent on us as a party to negotiate in good faith to have an offer - a credible Leave option - in a referendum.”
He added: “There are several things we could do to get there - win a no confidence motion and trigger a general election and form a Labour government.
“Then there would be a situation where we would seek to renegotiate a deal along Labour’s lines, but then not necessarily own that deal - we would say we are still backing Remain as a party - but we are giving that option to the people to ratify.”
Asked if that would be a waste of the government’s time, Mr Sweeney said: “We need to go through this as a country and bring people together. Simple binary solutions are not the way forward.”
But that stance drew scorn from veteran SNP MP Pete Wishart, who said: “Poor Paul Sweeney ‘explaining’ Labour’s Brexit position. ‘His’ version is that Labour would become a party of remain but put together a departure deal that they would then campaign against. Genius.”
The Labour MP responded: “Mr Wishart you have refused to back a public confirmatory vote on the Brexit deal, because you don’t want it to set a precedent in any possible separation referendum in future. Labour is campaigning to stop No Deal, have a public vote on any Brexit deal and campaigning to Remain.”