This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/sep/23/brexit-latest-news-labour-conference-jeremy-corbyn-warned-it-would-look-awful-if-he-only-wins-key-labour-brexit-conference-vote-with-union-support-live-news
The article has changed 21 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 15 | Version 16 |
|---|---|
| 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) | |
| Delegates are about to vote on Brexit. | |
| A woman makes a point of order, and complains that a large number of people have just come into the hall. Are they entitled to be here. The chair says anyone who is not a delegate should leave. | |
| Starmer has now finished. At last year’s conference he want off script, saying all options would be on the table if Labour did not get a general election, including a referendum with remain as an option. That went slightly further than what had been agreed. But today he was strictly on message. He confirmed that he would vote remain in a referendum (something he has said before), but he did not take a side on the issue at the heart of this debate - the split between composite 13 and the NEC statement. See 10.10am. | |
| Starmer is now on his peroration. | |
| Conference, the Tories have failed: they’ve wrecked our economy, public services, and welfare state. They’ve wrecked our international reputation. Their time is up. | |
| We have to beat them, and we will. We have to defeat Johnson, and we shall. And defeat his politics, to show that decency can triumph. We have to deliver a radical Labour government and give the people the final say on whether we Remain in the EU. | |
| Starmer says Labour must recognise why people voted leave. | |
| But Brexit is deeper and bigger than our relationship with the EU. We will never get past Brexit if we don’t understand why - when asked - so many millions said they wanted change. The people didn’t just speak. They shouted. Millions told us that the current political and economic system isn’t working. And they are right about that. | |
| The status quo is bust. Inequality and injustice are everywhere. We need a fundamental shift in power, and wealth, and opportunity. That’s why our 2017 manifesto was so popular. We must build on it. | |
| Only a Labour government will end child poverty. Only a Labour government will confront the moral disgrace of homelessness. Only a Labour government will transform our economy to end insecure work - raise wages – and create good new jobs across the country. Only a Labour government will tackle the climate emergency, so we can look at the next generation in the eye and say ‘we did not let you down’. | |
| Starmer says he would campaign for remain. But he says he respects the rights of those to take a different view. | |
| Conference, you know where I stand on the question of remain: I’ve said many times that I will campaign for it. But I profoundly respect those who take a different view. And conference, let’s go into this with our eyes open. | |
| In 2016 Labour campaigned for remain. We did so because we are internationalists. We stand in solidarity with our friends and neighbours in Europe. We profoundly believe in peace, reconciliation, human rights and collaboration across borders. Socialist values. Our values. Then and now. And let those values guide us on the road ahead. | |
| Starmer turns to the election. | |
| The choice is stark. Lose, and the 2020s could be another lost decade. A no deal Brexit, on top of a hard-right agenda that will strip back rights and protections and sell off public services. Win, and Labour can pull this country back from the brink: end austerity, rebuild our public services, and invest in our communities. The stakes could not be higher. | |
| (I am posting the quotes from the text sent out by Labour. Starmer is making some slight changes to the text, but what I am posting is not in any was significantly different from what he is saying. | |
| Starmer says Labour has to find a way forward. | |
| Too much has happened in the last three years for this now to be decided without the consent of the public. We need to ask the public whether they are prepared to leave with the best deal that can be secured. Or whether they wouldn’t rather remain in the EU. The people must have the final say. | |
| A referendum in which ‘remain’ should – and will – be on the ballot paper. Along with the best leave deal that can be secured. We owe it to those who want to leave to secure that leave deal and put it to them in a referendum. | |
| But if remain wins, we will remain a member of the EU - a full member of the EU. | |
| Starmer says a no-deal Brexit would be a disaster for the country. | |
| Theresa May’s government was called a zombie government. But at least she occasionally won a vote. | |
| With this government, it is Johnson nil, Corbyn six. | |
| Parliament had to pass a law to stop a no-deal Brexit. | |
| And yet Johnson’s first instinct is to break the law. | |
| Starmer says if Johnson thinks he will be able to break the law, he has another thing coming. As soon as parliament returns, “we will be ready”. | |
| Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, is speaking now. | |
| Last year the conference gave Labour a roadmap, he says. “You asked us to vote down Theresa May’s Brexit deal, and we did, three times.” | |
| And they kept a referendum on the table. | |
| But now they face different challenges – a prime minister with no regard for the truth. | |
| Starmer says he does not believe a word Johnson says. Johnson said Brexit would free up more money for the NHS. It won’t. He said prorogation was not about Brexit. But it was all about Brexit, he says. | |
| We definitely will get the results of the votes tonight, Labour are now saying. There were suggestions earlier we might have to wait until tomorrow. | |
| Joanna Gowers, from Finchley and Golders Green, says she does not like the EU. She thinks it has promoted neoliberalism. She came to the party conference opposed to a second referendum. But she says she thinks the party cannot go into an election with a fudged Brexit position. | |
| Alex Fernandes from Tooting CLP says he is addressing the party as an international socialist and Portuguese migrant. He says, as the largest party in Europe, they should campaign for their vision of socialism within the EU. He says: | |
| We cannot have socialism without international solidarity. | |
| Leaving the EU will not help migrants, he says. He says they should dismantle fortress Europe from within. | |
| 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. | 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. | 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. | Here are three journalists on how the debate is going. |
| From the BBC’s Chris Mason | 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 | 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) | 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. | 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 | 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 | 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.” | 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 | 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. | 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 | 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 ...) | 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. | 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 | 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 |