Emily Thornberry has attacked the campaign for a second Brexit referendum for thinking its job is to “slap the Labour Party around”.
Jeremy Corbyn has come under increasing pressure to throw his weight behind a referendum if Labour cannot force an early election.
He faced a backlash from pro-EU campaigners at the end of last year when he confirmed Labour would proceed with Brexit should it win power.
An opinion poll commissioned by the People’s Vote campaign suggested Labour could suffer a backlash from voters if it failed to oppose Brexit in the Commons.
The YouGov poll of more than 25,000 people indicated a second referendum is backed by 75% of Labour voters.
But speaking to BBC 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics on Sunday, Thornberry accused some in the cross-party campaign group of using it as “an opportunity to attack the Labour Party and the leadership of the Labour Party”.
“I think some people within the People’s Vote movement seem to think that their purpose is to slap the Labour Party around,” the shadow foreign secretary said.
“What I would like them to be particularly focusing on is taking the arguments as to why we should remain in the European Union to people who voted to leave and to try to change some hearts and minds.”
She added: “What concerns me about the People’s Vote movement is, as I’ve just said, is that instead of spending their time trying to change people’s minds, they spend their time smacking the Labour Party around the head, some of them.”
Theresa May this morning warned a second referendum would be “disrespecting” people who voted for Brexit.
But with parliament deadlocked over what to do next, the prime minister refused to entertain any outcome other than MPs voting for her deal when it is put to the Commons in mid-January.
May also repeatedly refused to rule out holding multiple votes until MPs approved her deal.
“If the deal is not voted on, this vote that is coming up, then actually we are going to be in uncharted territory,” she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
“I don’t think anybody can say exactly what will happen in terms of the reaction we will see in Parliament.”