Jeremy Corbyn was given a taste of a Brexit rebellion last night when 90 of his MPs declined his suggestion of abstaining on the single market amendment and rebelled. Perhaps the most interesting aspect, however, was not who backed the amendment but the 15 Labour MPs who rebelled to vote against it.
One such MP – Laura Smith – resigned as Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office to vote against remaining in the EEA. Explaining her reasons, she said she would always put her constituents in Crewe & Nantwich first:
It isn't acceptable to label the majority of my constituents as racist or to suggest they didn't know what they were voting https://t.co/ozW2AKCvVq is not the place of politicians to tell the people they were wrong.
— Laura Smith (@LauraSmithCrewe) June 13, 2018
So, it made for interesting viewing today when Smith was pitted against chief Labour Remain-er Polly Toynbee on the issue of honouring the referendum result:
JC: Do you think Polly is part of the problem? People who hold the views that Polly does, for the Labour party?
LS: So, I put, we have another referendum and it comes out slightly remain, say.
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