David Lammy Refuses 5 Times To Say Rejoin EU

David Lammy has repeatedly refused to say whether the UK should rejoin the European Union as Labour’s Brexit civil war burst back into the open.

The deputy prime minister refused five times to say whether the result of the 2016 referendum should be reversed when asked on Sky News.

Meanwhile, a Labour MP said it was “absolutely brainless” for the party to even be discussing the issue because it would cost them even more support in working class areas that voted to Leave.

Labour’s splits over Brexit reignited over the weekend when leadership hopeful Wes Streeting described it as “a catastrophic mistake” and said the UK should rejoin the EU.

That piled pressure on his rival, Andy Burnham, who wants to be Labour’s candidate in the upcoming by-election in Makerfield, where the majority of people voted for Leave.

Burnham, who told last year’s Labour conference that he wanted to see the UK back in the EU in his lifetime, wants to avoid discussing the issue during the campaign.

Asked on Sky News this morning by presenter Sophy Ridge if he would like to rejoin the EU, Lammy dodged the question and would only say he was “really proud” to have been the first foreign secretary to be “back around the EU table” last year.

Asked a second time, he said: “We set red lines in the manifesto.”

Ridge then asked the same question a third time.

Lammy said: “I’m not going to make a commitment about the next election manifesto process.”

The presenter said: “I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you, David Lammy, would you like to rejoin the EU.”

He replied: “Me, David Lammy the deputy prime minister, am committed to collective responsibility.”

Asking a fifth time, Ridge said: “Tell us what you really think, go on.”

But Lammy would only say: “I am in government delivering for the British people.”

Jonathan Hinder, the Labour MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, said his party was mad to be talking about Brexit again.

He told Radio 4′s Today programme: “To suggest that the solution now is for us to reopen [the Brexit] debate is just staggering and the Labour Party is in an existential crisis, it really is, and the idea that we can reconnect to our working class base by reopening this debate is just a staggering level of out of touch.”

He added: “The priority of the British people right now is not to reopen this debate … and we’re doing that again. It’s just absolutely brainless.”

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.