Labour should have played a bigger role in referendum campaign, admits Shadow Brexit Secretary

Speaking at a fringe event in Brighton, the MP said the Remain campaign did not focus on the right issues and should not have been spearheaded by David Cameron and George Osborne.

His comments followed a debate among the party’s grassroots members, which saw tensions between left-wing activists and pro-Remain supporters come to the fore.

One delegate accused pro-EU campaigners of seeking to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, while another accused fellow members of giving the Tories free reign to “do what they want with Brexit”.

The debate over Britain’s exit from the EU has threatened to overshadow this year’s party conference, with dozens of fringe events dedicated to the issue. However, a ballot on Sunday to determine which issues members will have an opportunity to vote on resulted in NHS funding, housing and social care being prioritised over Brexit.

There were accusations that this was down to the influence of the pro-Corbyn group Momentum, with “moderate” wings of the party complaining of a stitch-up. But members still had an opportunity to debate policy on the main conference stage, with one local delegate using his speech to label anti-Brexit campaigners who chose to protest outside the conference venue a “disgrace”.

“Who in this hall thought it would be a good idea on the first day of conference to organise a Stop Brexit campaign outside this conference.?” he asked. “That’s a disgrace. The real intention of that campaign is to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.”

Yesterday also saw an address from Sir Keir as he suggested Labour could negotiate “a new single market relationship” with the EU.

Speaking at fringe event afterwards, he said the party should never have “allowed” Cameron and Osborne to front last year’s referendum campaign, and admitted he would have liked to see Labour making a better case.

Challenged by a delegate who said Labour had been “invisible” during the campaign, he said: “I don’t think the campaign was very good for a whole bunch of reasons.

“I don’t think we should have allowed David Cameron and George Osborne to front it, we really shouldn’t have allowed them to front it.

“I was out there for the Labour Party, and I would have liked more out there for the Labour Party.”