Labour set to vote down any Brexit deal May can get

LABOUR will vote against any Brexit deal Theresa May brings back from Brussels, Sir Keir Starmer warned last night.

The shadow Brexit secretary said Labour’s analysis of the Chequers deal showed it would fail all six of the party’s ‘Brexit tests’.

He added that Labour would never back a so-called ‘blind Brexit’, in which the final terms of Britain’s future relationship with the EU are fudged until after it has left.

With Mrs May ruling out alternative plans, Labour now looks set to oppose any deal – even though that could leave the UK facing a no-deal Brexit, which the party opposes.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Labour would push for a general election if the Brexit talks collapsed and would only consider a second referendum if it became impossible to force an election.

In those circumstances, he said, staying in the EU should not be on the ballot paper.

But Sir Keir slapped down Mr McDonnell, saying Labour was keeping open the option of a second referendum in which staying in the EU is an option.

The row came ahead of a major debate today at which Labour activists will urge Jeremy Corbyn to embrace the idea of a so-called ‘people’s vote’ on the final deal.

Mr Corbyn has been reluctant to support a second referendum, but said on Sunday he would abide by the decision taken today.

Labour has set six ‘tests’ for any Brexit deal, including one which states it must deliver the ‘exact same benefits’ as being in the EU.

Sir Keir will today claim the Chequers deal would fail all six. Ministers have been braced for Labour to formally reject Chequers.

But some Tory moderates had hoped that, faced with the prospect of no deal, some Labour MPs would vote with the Government.

Yesterday Sir Keir said: ‘If Theresa May brings back a deal that fails our tests – and that looks increasingly likely – Labour will vote against it. No ifs, no buts.

‘And if the Prime Minister thinks we’ll wave through a vague deal asking us to jump blindfolded into the unknown she can think again. We will vote down a blind Brexit.’