Holding a second EU referendum would trigger “civil disobedience”, Labour’s Shadow International Trade Secretary has claimed.
Barry Gardiner said giving the public a vote on Theresa May’s final Brexit deal risked giving “succour to the extreme right”.
Labour MPs who back another vote accused him of parroting the line of Ukip.
Jeremy Corbyn is under pressure from pro-EU Labour MPs and members to commit the party to backing another referendum. The Labour leader has not ruled it out, but has repeatedly insisted it is not party policy.
Gardiner told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning: “In any situation, if people feel that the route to change is no longer a democratic route, then you look to social disruption perhaps civil disobedience in a different way.
“If people want to be able to achieve change through democratic means, if they feel that that is being denied to them, they turn to other more socially disruptive wats of expressing their views and that is the danger here.”
He said a second referendum would be “playing with the foundations of our country in a way that is really, really damaging”.
“We have to respect people’s vote in that referendum. We told them we would, we must do it,” he added.
Labour MPs who back a vote on the final Brexit deal hit out at Gardiner for his comments.
Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab heads to Brussels today for the latest round of negotiations with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
On Thursday, the Government will publish the first of a series of technical notices, designed to help people and businesses prepare for a no-deal scenario.
Raab will also give a speech outlining how the Government plans to mitigate the potential risks of leaving the EU without a deal and ensure continuity and stability.
The issue of EU nationals’ residency will not be among more than 80 no-deal technical notices to be issued over the coming weeks.