Owen Smith today admitted he is open to the idea of the UK signing up to the euro if that was the price for the country rejoining the EU.
The Labour leadership candidate revealed he would “potentially” be prepared to give up the pound and take the UK into the EU’s border-free Schengen-zone as part of any deal overturn Brexit.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show this morning, Smith again called for a second referendum on the decision to leave the EU once the terms of the final deal had been negotiated by the Government.
Tory MP Stewart Jackson, who campaigned for Brexit, accused Smith of trying to “irritate or enrage” the third of Labour voters who voted Leave.
On the BBC this morning, Smith claimed it would be a “dereliction of duty” by the Prime Minister not to tell the British people the terms of any Brexit deal before triggering Article 50 – the formal mechanism for leaving the EU.
He said: “Once you know what the deal is, that’s the point you have an extra democratic moment in Britain.”
When asked if as Labour Prime Minister in 2020 he would seek to take the UK back into the EU, Smith replied: “Hypothically.”
When told that would mean accepting the euro and being part of the Schengen Area, Smith said: “Potentially but again we are getting into hypotheticals built on hypotheticals.”
Smith was also asked to rate on a scale of one to ten how likely he is to win the Labour leadership contest.
“Ten,” he replied.