‘CONFERENCE, it is right that Parliament has the first say, but if we need to break the impasse our options must include campaigning for a public vote and nobody is ruling out remain as an option,’ Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit Secretary told the Labour Conference yesterday.
Starmer said: ‘If the Prime Minister thinks that she can come back with a vague deal, asking us to leap blindfolded into the unknown, we will vote that down. ‘We didn’t set tests that could be met by refusing to answer the question. ‘A vague or blind Brexit is a leap into the unknown and we will have no part in it.
‘Now, Conference, let’s be clear this is not about frustrating the process, it is about stopping a destructive Tory Brexit. ‘They talk about fighting for our values, when it is about fighting for our country. ‘But Conference, when it comes to that vote in Parliament, we do not accept the choice is between whatever the Prime Minister manages to cobble together or no deal. ‘That is not a meaningful vote – between really bad and even worse.
‘No deal would be a catastrophe, and no government has the right to plunge our country into chaos because of their failures. ‘So, if Parliament votes down the Prime Minister’s deal or she can’t reach a deal, that is not the end of the debate and Labour must step up again and shape what happens next. ‘Our preference is clear, we want a general election to sweep away this failed government. ‘Having swept them away we want to install a radical Labour government capable of transforming this country.
‘And that is what should happen after two years of negotiations ending in failure.
‘But if that is not possible, we must have other options and, Conference, that must include campaigning for a public vote. ‘Conference, it is right that Parliament has the first say, but if we need to break the impasse our options must include campaigning for a public vote and nobody is ruling out remain as an option.’
Starmer’s speech was just a Trojan horse for a second referendum. His declaration gives the EU leaders an added incentive to drive May back as far as possible and to have no compromise of any sort, and to create the conditions where this deal can be rejected in Parliament.
If they are unable to achieve a general election they will ‘fall back’ to campaigning for a second referendum, one of whose questions, as Starmer made clear, will be: ‘Do you want to remain in the EU?’
Dave Wiltshire, All Trades Unions Alliance National Secretary, said: ‘The way the Labour Party leaders are making it clear that they are going to vote against any Brexit deal in the House of Commons shows that they are working for a second referendum – because with such a policy millions of Labour voters will be alienated who support Brexit who might not turn out to vote for Labour in a general election. ‘So Labour is now becoming the openly “remain” party.’