Jeremy Corbyn’s “death bed conversion” to backing a second referendum has come too late to help Labour in a general election, a senior party MP has said.
Owen Smith told HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast the Labour leader’s decision to back a confirmatory referendum on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal was “too bloody late”.
The Pontypridd MP pointed to polls which showed Labour would win 18 seats and the Tories 17 in Wales at the next election, compared to the clean sweep of 40 his party won in 1997 under Tony Blair.
Smith, who failed to oust Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election, said this was evidence the party was getting squeezed by Remain parties like the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru despite its conversion to backing a second referendum.
He told Commons People: “It’s too bloody late, we should have been in this position three-plus years ago.
“That’s what I’ve been arguing throughout that entire period.”
He went on: “There’s a good reason to be cynical about it I suppose in as much as it’s a death bed conversion at the point at which it may well be irrelevant or a moot point if the deal is going to go through.”
Smith, who supports the Best For Britain anti-Brexit campaign, suggested it was now easy for Corbyn to back a second referendum given the unlikelihood of bringing one about while Johnson is prime minister.
“It could be seen as trying to have your cake and eat it and at a point at which we’re 15% behind in the polls,” he said.
“So I’m very clear that it’s the right position for us to take, it’s the right position democratically to say to people that now you understand the Brexit deal that is actually on offer, with all its risks to peace and prosperity, is this what you voted for and do you want to vote for it again? Are you certain?”
He added: “If we’d been arguing for that consistently for the last three years I think British politics would be in a very different place and the Labour party would be in a different place.”
Smith suggested voters on the doorstep still see Corbyn as a Leaver.
“It’s easier since conference because we’re able to say we’re in favour of a second referendum,” he said.
“But honestly, I think the damage has been done by three years of prevarication and dithering and I think it’s sunk into the woodwork that we took a look time to take this decision.
“The fundamental problem is people aren’t daft, people know that Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t in favour of the EU for years and years and years.”