Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 25 September 2018.
I thank the First Minister for that uninformative reply. But I'm sure the First Minister will agree with me that Theresa May has badly bungled the negotiations with Brussels. The Chequers proposals were always going to be stillborn, no real preparations have been made for leaving the EU without a deal, and there isn't much time left to negotiate a free trade agreement such as the one that was agreed with Canada. Where does the Labour Party stand in all this? Sir Keir Starmer, the Brexit spokesman for Labour in the UK, seems to have said that Labour will vote against anything that Theresa May comes up with, or is allowed to come up with, between now and next March. Jeremy Corbyn, with whom I marched through many lobbies voting against EU legislation over the years, seems to be sitting on the fence. Keir Starmer seems to have made it clear that he wants a second referendum, come what may, whereas John McDonnell, on the other hand, says that, whilst he's in favour of a people's vote on whatever emerges, it shouldn't include the option of leaving the EU. What does the First Minister think? Should there be a second referendum in which there is an option for leaving the EU or not?