Labour might support new Brexit vote
Opposition party stops short of seeking reversal
LONDON — Britain’s main opposition party took a step at its annual conference toward backing a new referendum on Brexit — but stopped short of saying the vote should include an option not to leave the European Union.
Delegates at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool will debate a motion Tuesday saying that if Parliament rejects the government’s Brexit deal, “Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote.”
The motion does not specify that a new referendum should include an option to remain in the EU.
Most of the party’s half-million members voted in 2016 to remain in the EU. But many of its 257 lawmakers represent areas that supported leaving.
With the U.K. and the EU now at an impasse, and just six months to go until Britain officially leaves on March 29, many Labour members think the party should try to force a new referendum that could reverse Britain’s decision to quit the 28-nation bloc.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other party chiefs oppose that idea, saying Labour must honor voters’ 2016 decision to leave.
Party finance spokesman John Mcdonnell said Monday that “we argued for ‘remain’ in the past but we lost that vote so we have to respect that.”
But Labour lawmaker David Lammy, who backs a second vote, said a referendum offering the choice between “no deal or a bad deal” would be “farcical.”
Labour is meeting after a rocky week for divorce negotiations between Britain and the EU.
The Conservative government’s blueprint for future trade ties with the bloc was rejected last week by EU leaders at a summit in Salzburg, Austria. That left Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership under siege and Britain at growing risk of crashing out of the EU with no deal in place.
May met Monday with her divided Cabinet, where some Brexit-supporting ministers are urging her to seek a looser relationship based on a bare-bones free trade agreement that would leave Britain free to strike new deals around the world.
Amid mounting uncertainty, the British government has stepped up preparations for leaving without an agreement — though it insists that outcome is unlikely. On Monday, it published a new batch of documents outlining some disruptions that could be caused by a “no deal” Brexit.
The group of “technical notices” to businesses said British digital subscribers could be unable to access services such as Netflix when they travel in Europe, truckers could need special permits to transport goods to the EU, and planes between Britain and the continent could be grounded.