Jeremy Corbyn has refused to rule out backing the cancellation of Brexit as a price for power-sharing with the Liberal Democrats.
Labour Party policy going into next month’s General Election is to negotiate a weaker form of Brexit with the EU and hold a second referendum with that option and Remain on the ballot paper.
While a party of Remain, Labour is second to the Liberal Democrats for the rabidity of its anti-Brexit approach, with the Jo Swinson-led liberal-progressive party declaring that if they won a majority they would revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit altogether.
Both parties have ruled out the prospect of a Remain coalition ticket with the other, but during a speech on Tuesday Mr Corbyn refused to rule out dropping a second referendum and embracing cancelling Brexit altogether in order to gain the support of the Liberal Democrats in the case of a hung parliament — despite having condemned Swinson’s Brexit position last by week by saying: “The Lib Dems want to cancel a democratic vote with a parliamentary stitch-up.”
When asked if he would back a coalition to get into Number 10, Mr Corbyn said during a speech in Harlow, Essex: “All I can say is, we are campaigning to win this election with a majority Labour Government.
“We are not campaigning to form a coalition with anybody, we are campaigning to go into office to carry out our manifesto.”
The party later tried to play down the open nature of the response, with a source telling The Sun: “He said no coalitions and we’ve said that again and again.”
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson challenged the 70-year-old socialist to make clear his Brexit policy, because despite pledging to renegotiate the exit treaty, the party appears to be ready to campaign against its own deal in the proposed second referendum and back Remain.
Mr Corbyn was a long-time Eurosceptic before the 2016 referendum when he, albeit half-heartedly, campaigned for Remain. After Remain lost, Mr Corbyn pledged in his 2017 General Election manifesto to respect the result of the previous year’s plebiscite.
However, in July 2019, he announced that he would hold a second referendum if he became prime minister, betraying those five million Labour Leavers who entrusted their votes to him just two years before.
This week, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said that he would “hurt Labour in the most extraordinary way” in the December 12th snap election for “betraying” left-wing leavers and would campaign to win in Labour heartlands in the North, Wales, and Midlands.