Keir Starmer: New referendum or close economic relationship are only Brexit options

The Shadow Brexit Secretary said the Prime Minister’s failure to get her deal through Parliament meant it was “almost inevitable” that Article 50 would be extended.

And he said the country was down to only two realistic options ­– a close economic relationship with Brussels or a second referendum.

Sir Keir was in the West Midlands as a guest of Birmingham MP Preet Gill to meet with business owners in her constituency.

'Voters are fed up'

In a message directed as Leave voters across the region, he said: “Most people are absolutely fed up at the lack of progress, and that’s whether they voted Leave or Remain.

“I talk to people in different communities and I think people want to break the impasse, and at the moment what they are seeing is a Prime Minister who has failed at the end of two years to get a deal through Parliament.

“We have to look at other options. I appreciate that people say ‘just get on with it’, but if we are not careful at this stage, and there is damage to the economy and people lose their jobs, they will look back at us and say ‘why weren’t you more responsible at the time?’

“It is our duty to get this one right.”

His comments came as Labour divisions on Brexit deepened following Jeremy Corbyn’s letter to Theresa May, in which he said he would back her on Brexit providing she modifies her deal.

'Ball in her court'

The Labour leader’s pledge angered staunch Remainers in his party, but Sir Keir moved to defend Mr Corbyn, insisting the letter represented a “robust” challenge to the Prime Minister to “change her red lines”.

“It puts the ball very firmly in her court,” he said. “And it doesn’t rule out the option of a public vote.

"We are weeks away from March 29 and are now narrowed down to two options. One is a close economic relationship, a customs union and single market alignment, the other is the option of a public vote.

“There's a majority in Parliament opposed to ‘no deal’ and that number will grow as the clock ticks down.

“I also think the Prime Minister's sense of duty will not permit her to take this country out of the EU without a deal.”

Article 50 extension 'highly likely'

On the prospect of extending Article 50, Sir Keir said: "It is highly likely if not inevitable.

“Even if the Prime Minister does get a deal through in a few weeks time, I don't think she'll have enough time left to put in place the necessary legislation.”

The MP, who represents the pro-Remain constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, also called for unity in his party when it comes to opposing Mrs May’s deal.

"The ballot paper didn't define what Brexit is,” he said.

“We have to reject the Prime Minister's very bad deal. It's a blind Brexit that doesn't tell us where you're going.”

Time to unite

While the main stumbling block to Mrs May’s deal - as far as the majority of Tory MPs are concerned - is the Irish backstop issue, Sir Keir believes she needs to go back to the drawing board to abandon her red lines on the customs union and the single market.

“The Prime Minister has now abandoned Parliament on a number of occasions to renegotiate with the EU, but every time she does it she gets the same response,” he said.

“We have got this impasse – she can’t get her deal through Parliament, and she can’t persuade the EU to change it. What she needs to do is to go back to her red lines and accept they need to be abandoned.”

Asked if he thought Labour divisions on Brexit were hindering the party from pushing forward a cohesive policy, Sir Keir said: "There are different views.

“What we have tried to do is ensure that as we have evolved our position, we have done it in a way that most people can coalesce around.

“I'm not pretending everyone is happy all of the time, but we need to be united as we go forward and try and make sure we have a position that most people feel they can support.”