John McDonnell Says He’d Vote Remain Again In A Second Referendum

13 November 2018, 21:01 | Updated: 14 November 2018, 15:37

John McDonnell has told LBC he would still vote to Remain in the EU if there was another Brexit referendum.

The Shadow Chancellor said he backed a “Remain but Reform” approach - which would have won the 2016 vote if “that vision was presented more effectively”.

The Labour frontbencher joined Iain Dale for an hour-long interview on Tuesday evening.

It came as Theresa May prepared to sell her Brexit deal to the Cabinet in a crunch meeting on Wednesday.

UK and EU negotiators are believed to have reached an agreement on a text on the Irish border.

Mr McDonnell said Labour would only back the deal in Parliament if it met six strict tests.

“If the deal protects jobs and the economy and it doesn’t undermine the protections we already have in terms of employment, in terms of the environment, in terms of consumer rights we’d support it,” he said.

“I think it would be a deal that there’d be a majority in the Houses of Parliament for, but that’s not by the looks of it what is on offer.”

Iain asked the Shadow Chancellor: “If there were another referendum how would you vote?”

Mr McDonnell replied: “I’d vote for Remain like I did last time as well.”

The LBC presenter responded: “You and [Jeremy Corbyn] have always been a bit Brexit-y haven’t you?”

To which the Labour frontbencher said: “We argued during the referendum campaign ‘Remain but Reform’.

“One of the reasons, there’s many reasons that we lost that vote, but one of the reasons I don’t think we emphasised reform enough.”