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Brexit: Labour delegates debate rival motions for and against Corbyn's strategy – live news Brexit: Labour delegates debate rival motions for and against Corbyn's strategy – live news
(32 minutes later)
Asra Anjum from Poplar and Limehouse CLP says she is speaking in favour of composite 13. She is speaking as a BAME candidate. She says her CLP is majority BAME, and it voted remain.
Samuel East from Liverpool Walton CLP said Boris Johnson would be praying for Labour to end the day as a remain party. Members should say no to composite 13, he said.
Here are three journalists on how the debate is going.
From the BBC’s Chris Mason
The mood of the conference floor seems more supportive of the Corbyn position — but make no mistake, this is a pro EU room. Just one speaker saying she voted Leave #Lab19 pic.twitter.com/woSFogBsvt
From the FT’s Sebastian Payne (who I think means over-estimate)
The overwhelming mood in the #lab19 conference hall is supporr Jeremy Corbyn - you can’t underestimate how much delegates back him. Composite motion 13 (pro-Remain) is being painted as a confidence vote in his leadership. Speaker after speaker now backing the leader.
From Sky’s Lewis Goodall
Open hostility spilling over onto the conference floor. Delegate saying many remainers are neoliberals and that’s where this new Remain comes from, saying many are the same people who “stabbed Jeremy in the back years ago.” #Lab19
One member told me: “the media have made this about Jeremy so we need to support him.”
Prevailing wind now is that leadership will prevail and pro-remain motion will go down.One pro-Remain source gets in touch: pic.twitter.com/cKhUk0bScO
Urte Macikene, from Dulwich and West Norwood, says the vast majority of Labour members back remain. Without their support, the party will not win the election, she says. She urges delegates to back composite 13 and to make it a socialist, internationalist anti-Brexit party.
From Prospect’s Tom Clark
Feels in Labour hall like momentum more with the leadership loyalists on Brexit. (Could be wrong of course, but listening to the claps ...)
The Mirror’s Pippa Crerar has the text of the Momentum briefing to members on how they should vote on Brexit.
Well this is curious. Momentum sends out email at 10am saying delegates should oppose Remain motion.Just 13 minutes later Momentum chief Jon Lansman tweets that members should be able to “vote with their conscience”. Which is it? pic.twitter.com/F1Oupgkykg
While we are talking about Tom Watson, this is from HuffPost’s Paul Waugh.
Hearing that there will be big, orchestrated walk-out during @tom_watson speech at Lab conf tmrw.
From my colleague Heather Stewart
Labour remain activists caught by surprise at the number of speakers in conference hall this afternoon urging colleagues to back Jeremy Corbyn. They fear despite the support of Unison and Usdaw, they may be on course to lose tonight.
Tom Watson, the Labour deputy leader, has been speaking at a fringe event organised by the Labour Campaign for Gambling Reform. He said he was speaking about an issue “very dear to my heart”, but he couldn’t resist a pop at Jon Lansman, who led the attempt to abolish his post on Friday last week.
“The first thing I will say is that if you had taken a bet on whether I’d be deputy leader speaking at this event on Friday night, you’d have made a lot of money, and I really hope some of you did,” he said. “And the person you’ve got to thank if you did is Jon Lansman.”
He added: “Just to let you know, I’m going to get Jon Lansman gags in at every fringe meeting I do all week.”
He went on to speak about the gambling reforms that Labour wants to introduce in government, like the creation of a new gambling ombudsman and the introduction of a new gambling act that takes into account the huge changes the industry has seen over the past few years.
Jill Murdoch said the TSSA union told the conference earlier that her union “unequivocally supports” composite 13.
But Unite’s Howard Beckett spoke in support of the NEC statement and composite 14, and in opposition to composite 13. He said:
Composite 13 seeks to define us now as a party of remain and say that any negotiated deal, no matter what is in it, should be rejected in favour of remain.
As anyone who watched Emily Thornberry on Question Time will know, it’d be a car crash to send Jeremy Corbyn into a general election saying that he can negotiate a credible deal when our position is one to reject that deal.
He was referring to this clip.
I know we are saturated with political content and have an almost total Brexit-related exhaustion but I don’t think I have seen *anything* as staggeringly shameless - or stupid, but I don’t think she’s stupid - as this. pic.twitter.com/LaPY6F4QpV
Hannah Patterson, from Leeds North West CLP, says the party needs a clear stance. It is not good enough to wait until after the election before deciding to back remain, she says. She says Scottish Labour, Welsh Labour and Labour in Northern Ireland all want the party to commit for remain. Vote for composite 13, she says.Hannah Patterson, from Leeds North West CLP, says the party needs a clear stance. It is not good enough to wait until after the election before deciding to back remain, she says. She says Scottish Labour, Welsh Labour and Labour in Northern Ireland all want the party to commit for remain. Vote for composite 13, she says.
You can’t always judge how a vote will go by how many people are speaking on each side, but the leadership camp are doing a better job at getting people to speak up for their side than the remain camp.You can’t always judge how a vote will go by how many people are speaking on each side, but the leadership camp are doing a better job at getting people to speak up for their side than the remain camp.
ITV’s Robert Peston thinks Jeremy Corbyn is on course to win.ITV’s Robert Peston thinks Jeremy Corbyn is on course to win.
If the mood in the conference hall is anything to go by, @jeremycorbyn will win these three votes and the Remain motion will be rejected. It is all about the party showing loyalty to CorbynIf the mood in the conference hall is anything to go by, @jeremycorbyn will win these three votes and the Remain motion will be rejected. It is all about the party showing loyalty to Corbyn
Noah Tucker from Tottenham CLP says his local party wants people to back Jeremy Corbyn. He has been right on tactics, he says. He says composite 13 would put Labour in a “nightmare” position. It would not be able to get anything other than a very, very bad deal, if the EU knows that Labour will campaign against it. Yet the public could vote for it in the referendum.Noah Tucker from Tottenham CLP says his local party wants people to back Jeremy Corbyn. He has been right on tactics, he says. He says composite 13 would put Labour in a “nightmare” position. It would not be able to get anything other than a very, very bad deal, if the EU knows that Labour will campaign against it. Yet the public could vote for it in the referendum.
He says Labour should not let Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson speak for the 52%. Labour needs to be the people who speak for the 99%.He says Labour should not let Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson speak for the 52%. Labour needs to be the people who speak for the 99%.
Gary Ostrolenk from Camberwell and Peckham CLP says a Labour government will face an onslaught from its enemies. It will need the support of the entire working class. If it alienates the 50% of that class who voted leave, they will turn their backs on Labour. Labour will not succeed. He urges members to vote against composite 13.Gary Ostrolenk from Camberwell and Peckham CLP says a Labour government will face an onslaught from its enemies. It will need the support of the entire working class. If it alienates the 50% of that class who voted leave, they will turn their backs on Labour. Labour will not succeed. He urges members to vote against composite 13.
HuffPost’s Paul Waugh has been given a different steer on when we might get the results of votes from the one picked up by Steven Swinford. (See 4.19am.)HuffPost’s Paul Waugh has been given a different steer on when we might get the results of votes from the one picked up by Steven Swinford. (See 4.19am.)
Latest on timing of Brexit vote: if there's one card vote, result 7pm-ish, if two card votes - all results 8pmish, if three card votes [which may be likely] then all results 9pmish.Card votes only called where show of hands looks close.Latest on timing of Brexit vote: if there's one card vote, result 7pm-ish, if two card votes - all results 8pmish, if three card votes [which may be likely] then all results 9pmish.Card votes only called where show of hands looks close.
Michelle Ryan, from East Worthing and Shoreham CLP, says composite 13 would put the party in the position of having to campaign against a deal it negotiated. That position has been widely mocked, she says.Michelle Ryan, from East Worthing and Shoreham CLP, says composite 13 would put the party in the position of having to campaign against a deal it negotiated. That position has been widely mocked, she says.
She says Jeremy Corbyn has also made it clear that he would prefer to be neutral.She says Jeremy Corbyn has also made it clear that he would prefer to be neutral.
The Telegraph’s Steven Swinford says, if there is a card vote, we will not get the result until tomorrow.
We'll have to wait a while for the result of this evening's votes on Brexit motions at Labour Party conference if they are closeJust been confirmed that if it goes to a card vote we won't know the result until tomorrow morning...
Jean Roberts, from Brent Central CLP, says she voted leave. The EU is not a model democracy. It is run in the interests of corporations, she suggests.
She says the party should unite behind the leadership and reject composite 13.
These are from Sunder Katwala, a former general secretary of the Fabian Society.
It seems quite possible that Labour conference will adopt at least two clashing Brexit policies today.A curious thing about this debate: pro-leadership motion that Remainers would now see as a defeat gives them the thing they struggled to prise from the leadership for 3 years.
The conference reactions to these speeches suggest that these two competing intuitions both have considerable appeal to Labour members.- Labour should stand for remain- Labour should seek to unite, appealing to both remain & leave voters can support it
Never sure how far the floor debate affects Labour conference voting, but this debate feels like it is going better for the leadership than was expected. Arguments about wanting to speak for "the 99% not the 48% or the 52%" are popular, beyond calls to back the leader.
Juan Baeza, from Brighton Pavilion CLP, says members should unite behind the leader and reject composite 13.
Rosie Rivers, a 17-year-old activist from Wealden CLP, told the conference she had a message for them that would make her unpopular. She was against the idea of holding a second referendum at all, she said.
I know hundreds of people aged 16 to 25 and younger in my area who think it will create a divide that will be worse for us to grow up in.
Kate Hudson from CWU says she is speaking in support of the NEC statement, “our leader’s position”.
When people are trapped in poverty and reliant on food banks, Brexit is drowning out the debates the party should be having, she says.
She says, when Labour debates, “there are no enemies in this room”. Labour’s enemies are in Downing Street, she says.
Sophie Wilson, a councillor from Sheffield Hallam CLP, says what her constituents need is a socialist government led by Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn’s policy could not be more simple, she says. She says the party cannot ignore the votes of those who voted leave. She says it makes sense to leave the decision to a special conference after the election. She urges delegates to support composite 14.
Duncan Enright says he is the first Labour mayor of Witney (David Cameron’s constituency when he was an MP) for a generation. He urges the conference to back composite 13. Labour’s position should be “remain, revoke, reform”, he says.
Gordon McKay from Unison says it is almost 100 years since the Daily Mail owner said hate was the way to sell newspapers. One hundred years on, not much has changed. He says Unison will be voting for composite 13. But he says Unison cannot be accused of not backing Jeremy Corbyn. It supported him as leader in 2015, and again a year later.
But Unison is committed to remain, he says.
He says Boris Johnson and the other Brexiters want to privatise services. Does anyone think anything will get better under Brexit? Labour has to come to a view, support a second referendum and campaign for remain.
Sophie Robbins from Twickenham CLP says trans people like herself have got more to fear than most from a no-deal Brexit. Hate crime has gone up since the Brexit vote, she says.