It’s Labour conference and the party is supposed to be setting out its plan for government. Only when it comes to Brexit, no-one is quite sure what that is. In the interest of clarity, Mr S will be running a live blog with the latest twists in the party’s apparent Brexit policy:
11am: Keir Starmer says remaining in the EU is an option
The shadow Brexit secretary tells Labour conference: ‘Nobody is ruling out remain as an option.’
11am: Dennis Skinner frowns
The Beast of Bolsover doesn’t seem too impressed by Starmer’s intervention:
Looks like Dennis Skinner really enjoyed Keir Starmer's speech pic.twitter.com/ltoPXTnyYt
— Alain Tolhurst (@Alain_Tolhurst) September 25, 2018
11.40am: Keir Starmer’s official speech text misses out Remain line
The official Labour-approved text of Starmer’s speech is released – but it does not include the key phrase which says Remain is an option still on the table. Doubts begin to surface that Starmer has gone off script.
1pm: Unite official – Remain is not an option for Labour
Len McCluskey’s deputy Steve Turner has taken to the conference hall stage to correct Starmer. He says Starmer was wrong and – adopting the John McDonnell line – and that any public vote on the terms of departure rather than the idea of remaining in the EU.
1.40pm: Emily Thornberry – ‘We already had a referendum’
Speaking at a Times Red Box fringe, Thornberry hums a different tune to Starmer. She says the party wasn’t a general election and that they have already had a referendum; ‘I think that we had a referendum’:
‘There are deeply anti democratic forces around the world and I don’t want to be part of that.’
5pm: Welsh Labour leader – Remain is an option in a second referendum
Carwyn Jones says having a remain option in a Brexit referendum is ‘likely’, speaking in the Welsh Assembly.
5.10pm: Jeremy Corbyn backs Keir Starmer
The Labour leader says the shadow Brexit secretary is right to claim that “nobody is ruling out Remain as an option”. Yesterday, John McDonnell said a second vote should not include the choice for Britain to stay in the EU.
Everyone clear now?
Comments