Jeremy Corbyn faces fresh pressure to back a second Brexit referendum as seven in ten Labour members want another vote

JEREMY Corbyn faces fresh pressure to back a second Brexit referendum after polling found more than seven in ten Labour members want another vote.

In a damning verdict on his leadership, the survey also found tens of thousands of members have even considered quitting the Labour party because of his stance on Brexit.

Nearly a quarter of Labour members believe he secretly backed Brexit.

The veteran Labour leader has resisted growing calls from within his party to back another vote.

Instead, he has insisted the best option is a General Election and to strike his own deal with Brussels.

Mr Corbyn has said he will only back a second referendum if he fails to trigger an election.

But the poll of more than 1,000 Labour members found 72 per cent want him to throw his weight behind a second vote now.

Three in ten members say they oppose his stance on Brexit.

Of those, more than half said his position on Brexit had caused them to consider quitting Labour.

That proportion would be equivalent to around 88,000 members, according to analysis conducted by the Economic and Social Research Council-funded Party Members Project.

Professor Tim Bale, of Queen Mary University London, said: "Our survey of Labour's grassroots clearly shows that Corbyn's apparent willingness to see the UK leave the EU - a stance he has recently reiterated - is seriously at odds with what the overwhelming majority of Labour's members want, and it doesn't reflect the views of most Labour voters either."

The work was carried out by YouGov for the Economic and Social Research Council-funded Party Members Project.

If there is another referendum - and a three-way question - some 88 per cent of Labour members said they would back Remain, 3 per cent said they would leave with Theresa May's deal and 5 per cent would support leaving with no deal.

If the choice was between the Prime Minister's deal and leaving the EU without an agreement, some 27 per cent of Labour members said they would boycott the vote altogether, although 46 per cent said they would take Mrs May's deal.

Some 89 per cent of Labour members - compared with 65 per cent of current Labour voters and only 45 per cent of all voters - are convinced that leaving the EU without a deal would cause economic damage in the medium to long-term.

While just 35 per cent of the electorate as a whole believe that warnings of short-term disruption with potential problems for food and medicine supplies in a no-deal Brexit are realistic, that figure rises to 82 per cent of Labour members and 58 per cent of Labour voters.

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