Corbyn makes pitch for power despite Labour rift over Brexit

Opposition leader vows to support any ‘sensible deal’ May government agrees on

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday presented himself as the man to steer Britain through perilous Brexit negotiations as he pushed his case for a general election.

Wrapping up the party’s annual conference in Liverpool, Corbyn sought to play down his own party’s divisions over Brexit and presented a “radical plan” for government.

Corbyn said Labour would support any “sensible deal” for Brexit that Prime Minister Theresa May’s government brings back from Brussels but warned that “if you can’t negotiate that deal then you need to make a way for a party that can”.

He said that an election should be called if parliament fails to approve May’s Brexit deal, hours after she told reporters in New York that an election before Britain leaves the EU would “not be in the national interest”.

Second referendum

If an election is not called, Corbyn said, “all our options are on the table” — a reference to the possibility of advocating a second Brexit referendum.

Labour has held back from full-throated backing for a second referendum because many of its supporters voted for Brexit, although younger members and many of the conference delegates have been speaking out in favour of another vote.

But the 69-year-old leftist devoted much of his speech to what he called “a radical plan to rebuild and transform our country” with social justice and environmental sustainability, and criticism of the government’s austerity programme.

After being criticised for months for his handling of cases of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, and his own past associations with Palestinian activists, Corbyn also pledged to fight discrimination “with every breath I possess”.

“The row over anti-Semitism has caused immense hurt and anxiety in the Jewish community and great dismay in the Labour Party. But I hope we can work together to draw a line under it,” he told delegates at the meeting.