Party leader bowed to pressure from Labour MPs and it came after many joined with Tory Remainers in an effort to persuade the Government to extend Article 50
JEREMY Corbyn has given his backing to Labour MPs' plan for a second Brexit referendum.
The Labour leader - who has long opposed UK membership of the EU - now wants the Government to give MPs the final say on whether there should be a second vote.
If a majority back a referendum, Parliament in turn could force Theresa May to hold a new vote that could lead to Brexit being reversed, reports
Corbyn’s U-turn came after Labour MPs openly defied him by heading for a Downing Street meeting with Mrs May's top aides.
Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie and other leading moderates visited the Cabinet Office yesterday for talks.
Their visit came despite Mr Corbyn banning all Labour MPs from engaging with the Government over Brexit.
He told them they shouldn't help ministers thrash out a Brexit plan unless Mrs May takes No Deal off the table.
Mr Leslie and Mr Umunna were accompanied by Labour colleagues Luciana Berger and Gavin Shuker.
Tories Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen and Phillip Lee also joined the pro-EU delegation.
The group lobbied Mrs May's deputy David Lidington in a bid to get the Government to support a second referendum on Brexit.
They told him it would be impossible to extend Article 50 in order to buy more time for a Brexit deal, as some MPs have argued.
Speaking afterwards Mr Umunna said it had been a "constructive meeting".
A Labour source insisted the party's policy remained unaltered: “We are continuing to put our alternative Brexit plan front and centre, not shifting to a second referendum.
"A public vote will be kept as an option on the table to stop no deal, but we are not ditching our plan for a Jobs First Brexit.”
Corbyn voted for Britain to leave the EEC back in 1975 and opposed other EU legislation like the Maastricht Treaty back in the 1990s and Lisbon Treaty in 2008 which gave extra powers to the bloc.
He said last year that he doesn't like EU's state aid and competition rules - and it would go against his visions to change Britain's economy.
Many left wing Brexiteers have long seen the EU as part of a capitalist plot to force free market polices on Europe - and stop governments propping up businesses.
During the historic referendum campaign the Labour boss was accused of barely lifting a finger to help out the Remain campaign.
Last week, Mr Corbyn wrote to Labour MPs telling them to refuse Mrs May's offer of a Brexit conference.
But a string of moderates have defied his orders and gone for talks with the PM or her allies.
Labour's Brexit policy was plunged into deeper confusion today as one of the leader's key allies appeared to back a second referendum.
Shadow Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner said: "If there is a motion for a second referendum that's put before Parliament, our position as a party is that we'd be supporting a public vote."
A Labour spokesman immediately slapped him down, insisting that Labour hasn't yet committed to a re-run of the 2016 vote.
Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, claimed the party would only back a referendum when Britain is "about to hit the wall of No Deal".
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