Leaving the EU will rip places like Sunderland apart. That is why Labour must use all the power it has to stand against it
• Bridget Phillipson is Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South
Labour’s position on a confirmatory referendum seems to shift daily, but even if every Labour MP backed one, we’d still need either government support, or Tory MPs breaking the whip. And there are still Labour MPs holding sincere reservations about the prospect, including colleagues I respect tremendously like Gloria De Piero and Lisa Nandy.
Like them, I campaigned to remain in the European Union yet represent an area where a majority voted to leave in 2016. We all see at first-hand the damage the Tories are doing to our communities, and we share a determination to secure a Labour government elected on a genuinely transformative platform.
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