By Daniel Hordon, Past Editor
Jeremy Corbyn used his speech at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Wednesday to announce his plans for Brexit.
Jeremy Corbyn used his speech at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Wednesday to announce his plans for Brexit.
The party leader directed his address at Theresa May, saying that Labour MPs would vote down a Chequers-style Brexit deal when the final details of the deal are voted on in the House of Commons.
Corbyn did, however, announce that Labour would support May’s Brexit deal if it included a customs union with the EU in order to protect employment in the UK, being quoted as saying “If you deliver a deal that includes a customs union and no hard border in Ireland, if you protect jobs, [...] then we will support that sensible deal”.
He also advocated a General Election if Mrs May’s Brexit deal is voted down in Parliament, saying that Labour would push for an election rather than a second referendum. These fresh calls for a post-Brexit General Election came less than a day after Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer advocated a second referendum on Brexit at the same Liverpool event.
Speaking on Tuesday, Starmer announced that Labour would keep the option of a second referendum on Brexit on the table, even suggesting to include a remain option on the ballot paper. The policy was met with applause from party members, with 89% of delegates attending the Conference voting for this measure to be introduced.
On Thursday, Mr Corbyn travelled to Brussels to discuss Labour's vision of a Brexit deal with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator. Speaking after discussions that included Starmer, Corbyn described the talks as “interesting [and] useful”. He was also quick to confirm that no negotiations took place “because that would be going over the line”. The Labour leader used this opportunity to confirm his party’s stance on Brexit, while his rival Theresa May attended the UN General Assembly in New York and spoke to business leaders about the effects of Brexit on UK-US trade.
Corbyn and Keir Starmer were also in Brussels to attend a naming ceremony in the city. A previously unnamed square in Belgium’s capital has been called Place Jo Cox after the murdered Labour MP, who was killed by a far-right extremist during the 2016 referendum campaign. Quick to thank locals, Mr Corbyn highlighted the late MP’s love for the city during her residence there, saying that “[Jo Cox] loved her time in Brussels, she loved the spirit and the music, the internationalism, the globalism of this city”.
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