'Your OWN voters don't have a clue!' Thornberry torn apart over Labour's Brexit stance
LABOUR’S shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry was put on the spot by a BBC host over Labour’s “confusing” Brexit position.
The Labour Party has faced huge criticism for not clearly outlining its position on Brexit.
Nick Robinson pointed out that Labour voters still didn’t know whether the party would like to Remain or Leave the European Union.
The BBC host said: “There was a very striking poll of Labour voters only the other day which showed most Remainers think the Labour Party is like them, opposed to Brexit.
“And most Labour voters who are Leavers, think the Labour Party is like them, actually in favour of getting out.
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“Is this just a triumph of political positioning? Exactly where you would like to be, let the Tories stew in their own juice and nobody has a clue where you stand.”
The Labour Party frontbencher explained that the party had a choice after the referendum and decided to appeal to both Brexiteers and Leave voters.
She said: “We could have plumped for the 48 percent or taken the side of the 52 percent.
“We didn’t want to do that, we really did think that we had to as a national party, take a view which was what’s in the interests of the nation.
Why don’t your own voters have a clue where the party stands?
“That is holding the nation together.”
The host stepped in asking “why don’t your own voters have a clue where the party stands?”
Mrs Thornberry replied: “Well what we have said is that we have to Leave because that is the result of the referendum. But we don’t have to go very far.
“That’s the point and that is the way you hold together the 48 percent and the 52 percent.”
Robinson continued his assault and claimed that Labour Party voters were “confused” as most MPs and members of the shadow cabinet “desperately want to stay in” the EU but “are scared to say so”.
Mrs Thornberry argued that was not the case. She said: “But the message is a relatively simple one. The 52 percent get what they want, we Leave. The 48 percent get what they want, we don’t go very far.
“That’s the answer, that is the only answer that works and indeed, that’s what looks after the economy. That is what makes sure that jobs come first. That’s what looks after Britain’s interests best.”
In the lead up to the 2017 General Election, the Labour Party said that they would leave both the single market and customs union when cutting ties with Brussels.
But some Labour politicians have called for the party to support remaining in some of the EU’s key institutions.
On Friday it emerged that Alex Cunningham had resigned from his post as shadow pensions minister after a clash with the party's leader over whether the UK should stay in the EU's customs union.
He was among 64 Labour MPs who ignored their leader's instruction to abstain in a Commons vote on the issue last month.
