Labour has put a Final Say back on the table – here’s how a second referendum could work

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Mustn’t get excited, now. However, the news that Labour will back a second referendum – the Final Say The Independent has been campaigning hard for – could not be more welcome. Even if, for now, it is based solely on Labour’s plan for Brexit, that would still be a move forwards – accepting in principle the validity of a “people’s vote”.

In any case Labour is determined to take no deal off the table, and in this the party should be supported by a growing body of opinion in Westminster. How much of this shift is due to the recent defections is a matter of speculation, but beside the point. Labour is moving in the right direction, and placing itself responsibly at the head of a national debate.

Backing a relevant backbench amendment on a second referendum, if that is the chosen mechanism to secure this vote, places the full weight of the Labour movement, in parliament and nationally, behind this essential democratic safeguard. At last, Jeremy Corbyn and his colleagues are beginning to make common cause with every other opposition party to secure this result. The ballot paper must, of course, have Remain as an option for it to be a free and fair referendum.

The price? Hardly a price at all. One option would be for Labour to support Theresa May’s Brexit deal – such as it is – but only give it provisional, contingent backing, conditional on that essential endorsement by the British people. Even that would be a price worth paying. Some sort of deal has to be put to the electorate. With 30 days to go to the putative date of Brexit, and with parliament still in deadlock, the necessary legislation incomplete, it is also the only practical way to resolve the issue. This has, in fact, been true ever since it became clear last year that the House of Commons was incapable of deciding what it does want.

There’s many a slip, of course, between cup of celebratory Prosecco and lip. The amendment must win sufficient support from Conservative democrats to get through. The mechanics of the second referendum will need to be determined by the Electoral Commission. Legislation will be required to organise a referendum. There will be much argument – with lessons from the 2016 vote – about the right question to ask; about funding; about the use of social media; and about the tone of the debates. A straight choice between Remain and the Brexit deal as negotiated by the prime minister and agreed by the EU seems the obvious thing to do. There is little point in putting “unicorn” options to the public, if they are not going to be agreed by the EU.

It is too early to declare victory. But Corbyn appears, after all, to have honoured his sovereign Labour conference decision to hold a popular vote once a general election was no longer a realistic option.

Of course some of Corbyn’s backbenchers, and front bench team, are unenthusiastic about a Final Say referendum because they represent Leave constituencies. They have a point. They do, though, need to reflect upon the consequences for their own constituencies of any kind of Brexit, and how reliable Tory promises of extra public spending really are. One thing they do know for sure in this febrile atmosphere is that there is no such thing as a “jobs first Brexit”. A “Labour Brexit” does not exist – though Corbyn is always entitled to campaign in favour of his own vision for the UK’s future relations with the EU. He should also be clear that a defeat for May would also have momentous consequences.

Is there time? Of course. We do not need to have a referendum by 29 March, the absurdly close Brexit deadline. The EU has made clear that time will be given for the UK to conduct a democratic consultation, ie a second referendum, even if it takes months (indeed a delay of 21 months has been floated publicly by EU sources as a rational solution in any event). It would take months to sort out a referendum and hold the vote. It will be time well spent, despite the uncertainty. The chances are we will have uncertainty in any case. And there are things worse than uncertainty – such as a no-deal Brexit. Corbyn must not let his party or his country down.