ASHTON and Failsworth MP Angela Rayner has voiced her opposition to a second referendum on Brexit.

Appearing on Robert Peston’s ITV Brexit special, Ms Rayner, who is also Shadow Education Secretary, said that Labour “always said we want to find a deal”.

“We said we respected the result of the referendum and we want genuinely to find a solution.

“We said that to avoid a catastrophic no-deal, or Theresa May’s disastrous deal, that if putting the vote back to the people is the only way forward then that’s what we would do.

“But I think that would be disastrous for us, as members of Parliament, to go back to the people with it because we would have failed in trying to find a consensus.”

She went on: “The decision made at (the Labour Party) Conference last September was very clear that if we were to avoid a no-deal as disastrous Brexit scenario under the Conservatives then we would go back to the people.

“I think personally as politicians if we have to go back to the people we’ve failed. I want to reach out, and Jeremy Corbyn has said that the Labour Party wants to find a deal that puts jobs and the economy first.”

The Prime Minister has said that Brexit could be delayed by three months, to June 30, if MPs back her deal when she brings it before Parliament for the third time. If they reject her deal again she says she will seek a longer extension - but any delay has to be agreed by the 27 other EU member states.

A spokesman for the European Commission said extending Article 50, the mechanism taking the UK out of the EU on 29 March, would need the "unanimous agreement" of all EU member states.