BBC host brilliantly shuts down Chakrabarti on Brexit – 'I do not know what you mean'
LABOUR'S attorney general Shami Chakrabarti was grilled by BBC host Mishal Husain as she claimed a second referendum was only a means of breaking a deadlock, and not an end in itself, contrary to what some of her colleagues have been advocating.
Brexit: BBC host grills Shami Chakrabarti over party split
The Labour peer was asked whether she agreed with either Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey or shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry on whether there should be a second Brexit referendum on any deal agreed by the House of Commons. But Ms Chakrabarti appeared to attempt to dodge the question sparking a frustrated reaction from the BBC host. Mishal Husain asked: “What we don’t know from you, and it’s been very clear yesterday in what was said on this programme by Rebecca Long-Bailey and then subsequently what we heard that was different from Emily Thornberry and Tom Watson, is whether there is a united common position from the Shadow Cabinet about whether there must be a confirmatory public vote on any deal agreed by Parliament.
“Now, do you agree with Emily Thornberry that any such deal must be subject to a public vote with the other option on the ballot being Remain?”
The shadow attorney general claimed a second referendum was only a means of breaking a deadlock, and not an end in itself.
She said: “As you know the public vote became part of our policy at the Party conference last autumn.
“It became part of our policy for the purpose of breaking the deadlock, that's the purpose of it, it's not an end in itself.
“Obviously it's a process thing, it's not a substance thing."
It was a simple question on whether you agree with Emily Thornberry or not
But the BBC host questioned the Labour peers failure to answer the question with a straight answer.
She blasted: “I don’t know what you mean by that. It was a simple question on whether you agree with Emily Thornberry or not.
“Should any deal agreed by Parliament be subject to a public vote?”
Ms Chakrabarti eventually claimed she agreed with Ms Thornberry there should be a second vote if it became a "necessary" mean to break the political impasse.
But argued she would prefer a general election as a different type of "public vote".
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She said: “I think it would depend on the level of support. It really depends on whether it’s required to break a deadlock.
“It’s not an end in itself, it’s a means to breaking the deadlock.
“I think Emily has got a point in that because it’s five to midnight and we haven’t broken the deadlock, a public vote or my preference which is a general election which is another form of a public vote, these options become much more significant and possibly even necessary.”
It comes as Prime Minister Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn opened talks aimed at finding a possible Brexit compromise which the Labour leader described as "useful but inconclusive" on Wednesday.
The meeting sparked fury among some Conservatives, with two ministers quitting Mrs May's Government and a string of backbenchers directly challenging Mrs May during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.