LABOUR could lose its Penistone and Stocksbridge seat if the party fails to back a people’s vote on Brexit, the results of a new opinion poll suggest.
The constituency held by MP Angela Smith is one of a number at risk if Labour rejects calls for the Brexit deal to be put to the country according to the latest ICM poll.
The findings come just a week after she was subjected to a vote of no confidence from her own constituency party. Local Labour party members made the move as a warning shot over the MP’s criticism of Jeremy Corbyn and her stance on other issues such as fracking.
Ms Smith told the Chronicle that she believes it is ‘now imperative the British people have the final say in a people’s vote’.
She added: “It is increasingly obvious the government is unable to deliver on the promises made by the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum.
“The prime minister’s draft agreement is not satisfactory and indeed is a significant retrograde step from our current membership of the EU.”
At the last election in 2017 Labour’s majority was slashed to just 1,322, from 6,723 in 2015.
The ICM poll reveals that Labour risks losing its majorities in key leave-voting constituencies, including Penistone and Stocksbridge, if it rejects a people’s vote.
Conducted in 54 leave-voting Labour constituencies, the poll shows Labour slightly increasing its lead over the Conservatives in these areas, from seven per cent at the 2017 general election to eight per cent now, but only if it supports a people’s vote when Parliament debates the issue next month.
If it fails to back such a vote and just opposes the prime minister’s Brexit deal, in line with current plans, its lead falls to two per cent and it loses 14 of the seats.
Penistone and Stocksbridge, and 13 other constituencies, would fall to the Conservatives, while Labour’s majorities in nine other leave-voting constituencies would fall to below 750, with a significant fall in a further 31, according to the poll.
Ms Smith, who campaigned to remain in the EU, has more recently led calls for Labour to commit to a people’s vote on the issue.
She said this week: “In all conscience, I cannot vote for a deal which will harm the jobs, public services and industries so important to my constituents.
“Given the deadlock in Parliament, I think it is now imperative the British people have the final say in a people’s vote, with the prime minister’s agreement and ‘remain’ as options on the ballot paper.
“I will continue and will not be distracted from doing what I can to give people that vote.”
After the vote of no confidence, she vowed to fight on, blaming a ‘hard-Left cabal’ for the action. She said she ‘was amazed’ that at a time of national upheaval, people were not more focused on other matters.
The local party members voted 27 to 20 in favour of the no confidence vote, which called for the party whip to be removed. Ms Smith accused them of ‘internal political posturing’.
