Go to polls if Brexit fails: Labour

Opposition supports ‘all options,’ won’t back 2nd vote

Britain’s Labour Party on Monday agreed to vote on a conference motion to “support all options” on Brexit, but the leadership refused to back a second vote with the option to stay in the European Union.

Party leaders negotiated for five hours at its annual conference in Liverpool, northwest England, before agreeing on the wording of the motion, which will go to the vote on Tuesday.

They agreed to push for a general election if parliament votes down any final deal between the EU and Theresa May’s government, according to a party spokesperson.

“It was also agreed that if there is no general election, Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote,” he said.

Around 5,000 demonstrators called for the party to support the so-called People’s Vote, with an option to stay in the EU, outside the conference on Sunday.

But shadow finance minister John McDonnell said that any public vote should only be on whether to accept the deal or force more negotiations, with no option to remain in the EU.

“If we don’t get a general election, then yes, we will go for a People’s Vote,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.

“We will be arguing that it should be a vote on the deal itself,” he added.

“If we are going to respect the referendum it will be about the deal.”

The pro-EU Liberal Democrats accused Labour’s leadership team of “aiding and abetting Theresa May on Brexit.”

“They’ve spent two years backing the Tories’ catastrophic Brexit and are even now trying to ignore their own members who want a People’s Vote with the option to remain in the EU,” said spokesperson Tom Brake.

“It beggars belief that McDonnell and co are spending so much time trying to trick and stitch up their own conference, rather than campaigning for an exit from Brexit.”

Labour is trying to convince the country it is ready to step in if May’s embattled government is brought down by Brexit, but faces its own problems in trying to coordinate its policy.

Jeremy Corbyn swept to the party leadership in 2015 on the back of support from grassroots members, but Brexit has the potential to cause a rift in their relationship as the March 29 deadline looms.

The veteran socialist has been a long-term critic of the EU, believing it to be a capitalist institution, and many of the party’s traditional working-class supporters voted for Brexit.

But many party members, particularly younger supporters attracted to his social justice agenda, are in favor of the EU.