(Bloomberg) -- Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, fired his Northern Ireland spokesman Owen Smith after he called for a second referendum on leaving the European Union, a clear sign he's not ready to bow to the pressure from his lawmakers to adopt an anti-Brexit stance.
“Just been sacked by Jeremy Corbyn for my long held views on the damage Brexit will do to the Good Friday Agreement & the economy of the entire U.K.,” Smith said late Friday on Twitter. “Those views are shared by Labour members & supporters and I will continue to speak up for them, and in the interest of our country.”
The Labour Party's announcement didn't give a reason for Smith's departure. On Friday morning he wrote an article in the Guardian calling for a second referendum. He has been replaced by Tony Lloyd.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Alex Morales
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