Jeremy Corbyn: 'Brexit result must be respected'

Labour must "abide by" the decision of voters who backed Brexit in the European Union referendum, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

In one of the clearest indications yet that he will not seek to overturn the result of the June 23 poll, the Labour leader said voters had "clearly said no" and that Leave supporters would have to "work our way round that".

His comments come days after he was repeatedly challenged by leadership rival Owen Smith to join him in demanding a second referendum on whatever deal emerges from Brexit negotiations.

In a head-to-head debate in Cardiff on Thursday, the Labour leader would say only that the issue of Brexit was likely to feature in the next general election.

Mr Corbyn backed Remain in the referendum campaign but has been accused by some critics of mounting only a half-hearted defence of Britain's EU membership.

Asked whether he thought that it would be undemocratic to seek to overturn the result, either through a second referendum or an election, Mr Corbyn told the Huffington Post:

"I think we've had a referendum, a decision has been made, you have to respect the decision people made. We were given the choice, we after all supported holding a referendum so we must abide by the decision.

"Does that mean that we don't have a future relationship with the European Union? No, it means the opposite. There has to be a very strong relationship so I think there has to be a question of access to the single European market."

He added: "It has happened: the Remain campaign didn't get the majority, the Leave campaign did so we've got to work our way round that.”

In another interview, Mr Corbyn denounced David Cameron's controversial resignation honours list as "another nail in the coffin" of the House of Lords.