‘A second referendum is the only way to get Brexit done’ says Labour MP in Leave area

Liz Kendall speaking in the House of Commons. Photograph: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA Wire . - Credit: PA

A Labour MP – who represents a Leave constituency – has claimed the only way to get Brexit ‘done’ is to hold a People’s Vote.

Liz Kendall said all MPs should understand the Brexit deal brings risks to the “economy and the constituents’ jobs and livelihoods”, and to the “union of the United Kingdom too”.

But she noted for many MPs there was a risk to “trust in democracy” by not getting a deal through the House of Commons too.

Kendall said she had “thought long and hard about this issue” as she represents an area that voted to Leave.

She explained: “While Leicester as a whole voted Remain, my constituents voted to Leave by about the same margin as the country nationally.

“And they voted Leave for all sorts of different reasons. Because they’re fed up with the quality of local jobs and wages and problems in the NHS.

“Because there aren’t enough affordable homes, or local school places, or because they believed levels of immigration are too high.

“Some have never voted before but they voted because they all wanted change.

“So believe me I know, I know, the risk to our democracy and trust in our democracy, especially among people who believe their views have been ignored for years.”

But the Labour MP warned her voters would feel just as “betrayed” by the Brexit deal if it does not solve any of the key issues.

“In the end I believe those who voted Leave will feel even more betrayed when it becomes clear that this deal won’t sort Brexit out. It won’t provide answers to their problems, or deliver the changes to their problems they desperate want and need.”

Kendall pointed out it will take “years and years” for negotiations to conclude, and in the end the same problems will face Great Britain as with Northern Ireland.

“The government has never, ever been honest with the British people with the inevitable choice Brexit brings,” she explained.

“And they’re at it again with this bill. Promising the ERG of course we’ll break free from all this nasty EU regulation and red tape. At the time promising Labour MPs of course we have no intention of slashing workers’ rights and environmental standards. Mr Speaker, both of these cannot be true.”

“Who will pay?” she asked.

“What the prime minister and the ERG want from the Free Trade Agreement, and their vision of the UK of a low-tax small state deregulated country, won’t improve the quality of my constituents jobs, or livelihoods, or give them more say and control. It will guarantee a race to the bottom.

“And it won’t put money into housing, schools or the NHS. It will risk the economic growth of which our public services depend.”

Calling for a second referendum, Kendall explained: “We have to put the real inevitable choice back to the British people alongside an option to Remain. That is the only way it will have any legitimacy and the only way we will get Brexit done. Otherwise we will simply end up back here again and again and again, and that will pose the biggest risk to trust in democracy and trust in politics of all.”