Nick Ferrari Presses Chuka Umunna Why He Won't Have By-Election But Wants Brexit Revote
19 February 2019, 09:59
Chuka Umunna was asked to justify why he won't have a by-election after quitting the Labour Party despite campaigning for a second Brexit referendum.
Nick Ferrari reminded the Streatham MP that he "wants a second referendum to reverse the British electorates view on leaving the EU, but won't have a second election in Streatham to perhaps reverse their view of you."
Mr Umunna responded: "That is a fair question, but under our constitution you are elected as an individual first and foremost and one of our values is belief in our parliamentary democracy.
"Now I haven't broken my contact with the people of Streatham, I was very clear that I would take a very strong stance against a Tory Brexit."
But when Nick told him that he was elected on a manifesto that promised to respect the referendum result, the now-Independent MP reaffirmed that his position on Brexit was different to that of the Labour Party.
"Myself and a number of other colleagues put out a different document and were very clear when people were voting for us in 2017 that we were going to have a different position on the biggest issue facing the country since the second world war," he said.
"I've been very clear, I haven't broken my contract with the people of Streatham. My constituency scored the highest remain vote in the country and now the Labour Party is facilitating Theresa May's Brexit."
Mr Umunna is one of seven MPs who resigned from Jeremy Corbyn's party, citing Brexit and anti-Semitism as their main concerns.
Luciana berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Ann Coffey and Gavin Shuker made up the group, who will now sit under the title "The Independent Group".
