Fairway to success
MORE should be done to encourage people to play golf and enjoy its many health benefits, an international panel of experts has concluded.
Researchers led by the University of Edinburgh found playing the sport regularly is linked to better physical and mental health and a longer lifespan.
The study engaged some of golf’s leading figures, sporting bodies and policy experts, who reviewed studies on the sport to build an evidence-based consensus on the links between golf and health. JEREMY CORBYN has said he will be “bound” by any vote at the party’s conference in Liverpool to support a second referendum on Brexit.
But the Labour leader made clear he still believes that an early general election is the best way to resolve the political crisis over Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
He said his party was ready to “put our case to Parliament” for an early poll, in comments likely to fuel speculation that Labour will table a vote of no confidence in Theresa May if talks with Brussels fail.
Mr Corbyn was speaking as a poll found 86% of Labour members think voters should have the final say on the outcome of Brexit negotiations, and 90% would now vote to remain in the EU.
Pro-EU activists were staging a rally and march in Liverpool as the annual conference got under way, in a bid to pile pressure on the leadership to back a so-called “People’s Vote”.
Many activists believe that with Mrs May’s plans in disarray following the rejection of her Chequers proposals by EU leaders in Salzburg, the time is now right for Labour to call for a fresh ballot. Mr Corbyn confirmed that there will be a vote on the party’s Brexit stance during the four-day conference, but it remains unclear whether the terms of any motion will enable delegates to commit Labour to a referendum.
More than 100 Brexit motions tabled by constituency parties will be boiled down to a single question through a process known as “compositing”, and many expect it to result in a fudge allowing Mr Corbyn to retain broad room to manoeuvre.
Asked whether he would feel obliged to respect a vote by delegates demanding a second referendum, Mr Corbyn told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “Let’s see what comes out of conference. Obviously I’m bound by the democracy of our party. There will be a clear vote in the conference. I don’t know what’s going to come out of all the compositing meetings that are going on.”
A YouGov survey of more than 1,000 Labour members for The Observer found 86% support a referendum on the outcome of Brexit talks, against just 8% who oppose it.
Even in the North and Midlands, where many Labour constituencies voted Leave in 2016, there was overwhelming support – 86% and 88% respectively – for a second vote.
Some 81% believe their standard of living would get worse after Brexit and 89% said it would be bad for jobs.
Deputy leader Tom Watson said the party leadership must “respect” the views of members if conference opts to give voters a “final say” on Brexit.
Conservatives seized on their comments as a sign that Labour was ready to seek to overturn the Leave vote in the 2016 referendum. Tory chairman Brandon Lewis said: “The last pretence that Labour ever respected the democratic decision of the British people is rapidly disappearing.”