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Brexit: Labour to back Remain as it calls for a new EU referendum

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Jeremy Corbyn has challenged the next Tory leader to hold another referendum before taking Britain out of the EU, saying Labour will campaign for Remain.

Mr Corbyn says the party will take this position to stop "no deal or a damaging Tory Brexit".

But he does not say what he would do if he won a general election and was placed in charge of the Brexit process.

Some senior members of his team want him to take a pro-Remain stance in all circumstances.

In an interview with the BBC's John Pienaar, Mr Corbyn said Labour was now the "party of choice" when it came to Brexit.

He said he had done "what I think a leader should do... an awful lot of listening" - to party members, unions and the wider Labour movement - before coming to a revised position.

He said he would "make a case" to Parliament in September to get another referendum and in the meantime, Labour will "do everything we can to take no deal off the table or stop a damaging deal of the sort Hunt or Johnson propose".

Asked if he had changed his position because of pressure from colleagues, Mr Corbyn said: "Not a bit of it. I've been listening and I've enjoyed it."

Mr Corbyn said he could not say what Labour's position would be at a general election, but would decide it "very quickly", depending on the circumstances at the time, whenever one was called.

In a letter to members, he said Labour continued to believe the "compromise plan" set out for Brexit during cross-party talks with the government earlier this year was a "sensible alternative that could bring the country together".

This included a customs union, a strong single market relationship and the protection of environmental regulations and rights at work.

Mr Corbyn's statement followed a shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, and a meeting with trade union leaders on Monday.

The bosses of Labour's five-biggest affiliated unions called for the move the party has made - but also for it to hold a "confirmatory vote" on any new deal it negotiated if Labour won a general election.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48919695
 
If they want “a customs union” and “a strong single market relationship” they might as well just stay full members of the EU.

More obfuscation from Labour.
 
Jeremy Corbyn: General election will stop Brexit 'crisis'

The Tory party has "failed" the UK and a general election is the "change of direction the country needs", Jeremy Corbyn has said.

The Labour leader said the UK is facing a Brexit "crisis" and will vow to do "everything necessary" to stop the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

It comes after a leaked government report warned of food and medicine shortages in a no-deal exit.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove said it outlined a "worst-case scenario".

Mr Corbyn gave the speech as part of a trip to Northamptonshire.

And shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC that Mr Corbyn will meet other British political leaders next week to discuss tactics to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

He also supported calls for the House of Commons to be recalled "in the next few days" to allow MPs to debate the prospect of a no deal. Parliament could be reconvened if the government put a request in to the Speaker John Bercow.

Mr Gove, who is responsible for no-deal preparation, said the leaked cross-government study, codenamed Operation Yellowhammer, was old and that Brexit planning had accelerated since Boris Johnson became prime minister.

A Downing Street source said the no-deal impact study leaked to the Sunday Times was presented at the first daily no-deal preparation meeting under Mr Johnson's government in July - but it was prepared by the previous administration.

A government source also told the BBC the no-deal study had been leaked by a disgruntled ex-minister in an attempt to influence discussions with EU leaders.

But Lord Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, said the dossier "lays bare the scale of the risks we are facing".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49391297
 
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