Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer has contradicted Jeremy Corbyn by insisting Brexit can be stopped.
In an interview with Der Spiegel last week, the Labour leader said “we can’t stop” the UK’s departure from the EU and said Labour had to “recognise the reasons why people voted Leave”.
But speaking to Sky News on Monday morning, Starmer said: “Brexit can be stopped.
“But the real question is what are the decisions we are going to face over the next few weeks and months?
“Decision one is on the deal. Decision two is if the deal goes down should there be a general election and decision three is if there is no general election, all options must be on the table, including the option of a public vote.”
Starmer added: “That is the clear position. Jeremy is signed up to it. I’m signed up to that.”
Theresa May has been warned she will have to quit if MPs reject her Brexit deal.
Brexiteer former cabinet minister John Whittingdale told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour on Sunday evening: “I think if the prime minister’s Brexit plan doesn’t get through Parliament, I think it’s quite difficult to see how the prime minister can continue because she has staked her credibility.”
Boris Johnson has claimed May is on the brink of “total surrender” to the EU and urged the Cabinet to mutiny.
Remain-supporting former education secretary Justine Greening said she did not think the Chequers plan would get through a “gridlocked” Parliament.
Hope of getting a deal for the Cabinet to sign off on Tuesday appeared to be rapidly receding, but talks are continuing in Brussels.
The apparent impasse makes it much harder for the PM to secure a special EU conference in November to settle Brexit terms.
But in a sign of Downing Street attempting to push the process forward, May’s key Brexit adviser Olly Robbins held talks with counterparts in Brussels over the weekend.
Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, will address ministers from the 27 remaining EU nations at a general affairs council meeting in Brussels on Monday.