'Are you sure he voted Remain?' Diane Abbott skewered over Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit stance
DIANE ABBOTT was left floundering after being grilled over Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on Brexit during a heated interview on the BBC.
Diane Abbott grilled on Labour's Brexit vision
Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark ripped into the shadow home secretary and asked her if she was “sure” the Labour leader voted Remain at last year’s EU referendum.
The question comes following comments, critical of the EU, made by Mr Corbyn during his time as a Labour backbencher.
During the interview, the host asked: “Are you sure that Jeremy Corbyn voted to remain?”
Ms Abbott replied: “Absolutely sure. That is an absurd question. It's almost trying to undermine all the hard work that all of us did to get the right result.”
Kirsty Wark roasted Diane Abbott over Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit stance
You will see what we are doing to stop a hard Brexit when Parliament returns
Wark then hit back and highlighted her party leader’s stance on single market membership after Ms Abbott insisted her party was not “taking any options off the table”.
The presenter said: “But if you have a Labour leader saying that he wants to leave the single market, that that is the option, if you’ve got your shadow international trade secretary saying ‘leave the single market, leave the customs union’ – that looks like Labour is actually supporting a hard Brexit.
“And there’s very little evidence to show that Labour’s doing anything to stop a hard Brexit.”
The politician then took a swipe at Theresa May’s Brexit strategy as she responded.
Jeremy Corbyn SLATES ‘European bureaucracy’ in 1996 clip
She said: “You will see what we are doing to stop a hard Brexit when Parliament returns but I can assure you that our vision for this country going forward is very different from Theresa May and the people around her.”
The fiery exchange comes after Mr Corbyn, who campaigned for Remain, blasted “European bureaucracy” in shocking archive footage from 1996.
In the BBC clip, he said: “The other concern is democracy in Europe.
“You have a European bureaucracy totally unaccountable to anybody.
“Powers have gone from national parliaments, they haven’t gone to the European Parliament, they have gone to the Commission and to some extent the Council of Ministers.
“These are quite serious matters.”