Ian Lavery slammed for 'false framing' choice between a People's Vote and Labour government

MP Ian Lavery speaking at a Labour poster launch. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA. - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

An ally of Jeremy Corbyn has been slammed for ‘false framing’ the choice facing the party.

Ian Lavery, who is the Labour Party’s national campaigns coordinator, said he was worried about impact if a second referendum was held.

He told the Chronicle Live: ‘My view is that as politicians, we’ve got to earn the respect of the electorate. If we give them the vote and then tell them that they were wrong, then you’re not earning that respect. Quite the opposite.’

He later told the Guardian that another referendum would lead to the same result and said he believed a general election was the solution.

He said: ‘A radical, redistributive Labour government is the answer to the woes of our country and for our communities, not rerunning a divisive campaign that seems likely to deliver the same result again and do nothing to answer the demand of a country crying out for real change.’

But his comments have been slammed by Anna McMorrin, a Labour MP and leading supporter of the People’s Vote campaign.

She said it was ‘false framing’ to suggest the choice was between a People’s Vote and Labour government.

‘It is perfectly possible to be a supporter of a Labour government and to call for a People’s Vote.

‘It is true that the country is crying out for real change, and for solutions to the poverty, homelessness and lack of investment in public services we see around us. I am campaigning for a People’s Vote precisely because I think all the evidence shows Brexit will make all of these things worse, and that staying in a changing Europe would give us the best chance of building a different country.

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‘With parliament deadlocked then the only realistic prospect of passing a Brexit deal is for both the Labour and Conservative frontbenches to back it. Yet all the analyses show Brexit will lower growth and cost jobs, especially in the North of England, Wales and Scotland.

‘Supporting a Brexit deal that would be seen as an establishment stitch-up would risk alienating both the remain-voting majority of Labour’s support and the leave-voting minority, who will see their party fall-in behind something that is both likely to make them worse off and fall well-short of the promises that were made in 2016.

‘Working people are not afraid of being asked to make a choice about the country’s future. The first century of the British Labour Movement was, above all, about securing the vote for the many not the few. Leaving this decision to a tiny number of MPs is not the way to build support or respect for politics. Having a mature and honest debate in the country between staying in the EU with our current deal and leaving with some sort of Brexit deal is likely to be a much better solution for our politics and for public debate and ultimately for national unity.’