Emily Thornberry has said Labour would be “off our bloody rockers” not to back staying in the EU.
The shadow foreign secretary’s comments, in an interview with Sky News Australia, go much further than what Jeremy Corbyn has pledged.
On Sunday the Labour leader said he would offer a referendum should he take over as prime minister.
But crucially he did not commit a Labour government to campaigning for Remain in that public vote.
Thornberry said on Wednesday: “I am firmly of the view that Labour’s policy should be that whatever deal the government comes up with, no ifs, no buts as Boris Johnson says, we should put it back to the people.
“We should have another referendum, and Labour should campaign to remain.”
She added: “The vast majority of people in Britain, if they want to leave, believe it is in our interests to leave with a deal with the European Union.”
Corbyn has come under intense pressure, including from his close allies, to move towards a more pro-Remain position following the party’s poor showing at the European elections.
But others in the party have warned it will suffer heavy losses in Leave voting areas if it abandons a commitment to honour the 2016 referendum result.
Johnson has promised to take the UK out of the EU by October 31, with or without a deal.
The prime minister visited Northern Ireland today to meet political leaders as he continues his tour of the UK.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP chief whip, said this morning current chances of a no-deal Brexit were “significant”.
while Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald branded Brexit a “piece of astonishing political and economic self-harm”.