LONDON -- Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn moved closer Sunday to fully backing a second referendum on Britain's exit from the European Union, saying the public should be given a choice on any deal to leave.
Corbyn has previously said the country should be offered a vote on Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal. On Sunday, he seemed to echo his deputy Tom Watson, who has been calling for a vote on any Brexit package, including one proposed by Corbyn's Labor party.
"It would be reasonable to have a public vote to decide on that," Corbyn said on the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show.
Talks between Labor and the government collapsed on Friday, and May blamed the failure on divisions within Labor on a second referendum. However, Corbyn said the prime minister's refusal to soften her red lines were at fault.
While the two sides failed to find an agreement on a customs union, they did find common ground on workers' rights, which May said she would include in a "new and improved" deal this week.
She will ask lawmakers to back her fourth attempt at passing a Brexit deal early in June. Writing in the Sunday Times, May said she would make "a bold new offer" to members of Parliament. She also said her Cabinet on Tuesday will consider a new series of indicative votes that could deliver a consensus in Parliament.
Corbyn told Marr he wouldn't give a blank check to May's new plans, but would consider them very carefully. He was also doubtful whether another round of indicative votes could break the impasse.
Corbyn also appeared to back away from his previous pledge to end freedom of movement after Brexit, saying a Labor government would instead be prepared to negotiate the issue of British and European workers having the ability to work in each others' economies with the European Union.
His comments come ahead of Thursday's European Parliament elections. Polls for those elections show both the Conservative and Labor parties trailing the Brexit party, led by Nigel Farage.
May last week agreed to chart a path for resigning if she can't get her deal through the British Parliament on its fourth attempt. That's spurred hopefuls in the party who want to replace her, including former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who backs a no-deal Brexit.
But today, a group of 60 members of Parliament from May's party, popularly called the Tories, will launch a campaign seeking to stop May's replacement from pursuing no deal, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The so-called One Nation Caucus, led by Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, will launch a declaration of 10 values today, rejecting "narrow nationalism" and calling for the U.K. to be a leader on the global stage.
A Section on 05/20/2019