Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith says he would look to take the UK back into the EU if he became Prime Minister.
In an intervention that will alienate Labour voters who backed Leave, the challenger to Jeremy Corbyn said his government would reverse Brexit if the country had entered recession and the NHS was still “on its knees”.
Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show if he would try and re-join the EU should he enter Number 10 in 2020, Mr Smith replied “hypothetically, yes”.
He said: “At that point if we had gone into a further recession, if we had the prospect of another 10 years of Tory austerity, if they were saying the price of us staying out is opening up the NHS to private sector competition….I think the sensible and responsible thing for a Labour Government to do is to say ‘we are better off in the European Union’.”
He added: “I’m an internationalist and a collaborator and a co-operator, I want Britain to be part of the European Union.”
Asked whether, as a new member, the UK could be obliged to sign up to the single currency and the Schengen Area, Mr Smith said: “Potentially, but again we are getting into hypotheticals built on hypotheticals.”
Mr Smith, who has already backed a second referendum on the terms of the deal the UK negotiates for Brexit, is struggling to make ground on Mr Corbyn’s strong opinion poll performance in the leadership race.
The Pontypridd MP’s inclination to reverse Brexit is likely to lose him the support of a significant minority of Leave voters who support Labour.
More than a third of Labour voters who took part in the EU referendum voted to Leave, according to YouGov research.
Mr Corbyn campaigned for Remain but is a long-term Eurosceptic and last week argued against retaining membership of the single market in favour of access that relieves the UK of “damaging” elements.
His campaign manager John McDonnell, who is shadow chancellor, predicted the division-ravaged party would unite after the result of the contest is announced on September 24.
“What I hope happens at the end of this election campaign, that phrase ‘what’s said on tour, remains on tour’ I think will apply,” he told the BBC.
