Labour torn apart by Brexit as 80 MPs call for second referendum – but Corbyn ally warns it would destroy party
Party chairman Ian Lavery said a second referendum on Brexit would cause a permanent split in Labour
LABOUR'S divisions on Brexit have grown larger than ever - as Corbynistas warn the party could fall apart over the issue.
Dozens of MPs wrote to Jeremy Corbyn last night demanding that he push Theresa May into calling a second referendum.
But the Labour chairman blasted Remainers in the party - saying that overturning Brexit would keep Mr Corbyn out of power.
80 Labour MPs - one third of the total - wrote to the party leader telling him not to strike a Brexit deal with Mrs May unless it includes a second referendum.
They said: "Labour is offering a vision of hope which has inspired millions of people. Tory Brexit threatens this, and so does any perceived participation in delivering it.
"Any compromise deal which is now agreed by Parliament will have no legitimacy if it is not confirmed by the public."
The message was signed by high-profile figures including Stella Creasy, Margaret Hodge, Rachel Reeves and Jess Phillips.
Most Labour activists are firmly pro-EU and are putting pressure on Mr Corbyn to back another referendum.
But party chairman Ian Lavery told the leader it would alienate Labour voters in Leave-backing seats.
He berated other senior figures in a Shadow Cabinet meeting last week.
A shadow minister : "He was very angry and wagged his finger at Jeremy, telling him that if he backed a referendum he would go down in history as the Labour leader who split the party."
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Labour frontbencher Jo Platt warned that a second referendum would send a message to Leave voters that their views are "second rate".
She wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: "Worst of all, it sends the message that rather than the hope they were promised in 2016, we propose to take things back to the status quo because we think that is better for you - trust us."
Mr Corbyn's team have been locked in talks with the Tories to thrash out a compromise deal.
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