General election: Voters left in the dark on Labour’s referendum stance until spring

Labour leader says critics who accuse him of talking to both sides on Brexit are ‘dead right’

Labour will not decide on whether to campaign for its own Brexit deal or staying in the EU in another referendum until the spring, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

In a speech in a Leave-voting seat in Essex, Mr Corbyn appealed to both sides by promising to negotiate a new Brexit deal in three months, then offer a referendum on the blueprint by the summer.

The Labour leader said critics who accuse him of talking to both sides of the Brexit debate were “dead right”, adding: “Why would I want to talk to only half of the country?”

But the proposals would leave voters in the dark on which way Labour would vote in the campaign until after the election and a special conference in spring.

Senior shadow cabinet figures such as Sir Keir Starmer and Diane Abbott have indicated they would campaign for Remain in a Final Say referendum – but Mr Corbyn has so far refused to say.

Asked whether his top team would be free to campaign how they chose, he said: “My strategy throughout has been to try and bring people together, to try to understand why people voted the different ways they did in that referendum and bring people together.

“Our conference in September in Brighton came together and agreed that position.”

The Labour leader added: “At the conclusion of those three month negotiations, we will hold a special conference of our party in a democratic way. We will come to a view as a party.

“At that point we will give that view to the people of this country.”

Mr Corbyn did not rule out scrapping Brexit as the price of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, but insisted Labour was not fighting this campaign with a coalition in mind.

Asked by The Independent whether he would rule out such a move, he said: “We are campaigning to win this election with a majority Labour government.

“We are not campaigning to go into coalition with anybody.”

Labour is mounting a charm offensive in Brexit constituencies, as the party seeks to steal a march on the Conservatives, who are also targeting these seats.

Since the election was announced, Mr Corbyn has also visited seats such as Crawley and Milton Keynes. The campaign is expected to head further north in the coming days.