Labour Brexit chief Sir Keir Starmer goes off-script and dramatically opens door to stopping Britain's exit from EU

Joe Murphy @JoeMurphyLondon25 September 2018
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One of Labour’s rising stars today dramatically pushed open the door to reversing Brexit.

Sir Keir Starmer took the Labour conference by storm with an unscripted pledge that a public vote on whether to remain in the EU might be staged.

“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,” he declared. His surprise comment electrified the Liverpool gathering — where delegates responded by clapping and cheering for almost a minute to show their support.

The clear backing in the hall for a second referendum was a blow to Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, who have fudged Labour’s official policy to avoid upsetting Leave-voting areas.

Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer
Getty Images

The key line about a Remain vote was not included in the official version of the shadow Brexit secretary’s speech, raising the question of whether he had deliberately orchestrated a show of people power.

Keynote speech: Keir Starmer at the Labour conference
REUTERS

Aides said he “ad-libbed”. He was meant to stop after saying that if Labour could not secure a general election “we must have other options”, and say: “Labour campaigning for a public vote must be an option.” But his ad-libbed version went further, adding: “... and nobody is ruling out Remain as an option.” Two thirds of the hall joined in the prolonged ovation as he sat down.

It came a day after shadow chancellor Mr McDonnell dismayed Remain backers by giving three interviews which all hinted that staying in the EU would not be one of the options in a second referendum. After an uproar, Mr McDonnell was forced to clarify that Remain was indeed an option.

A question being asked on conference fringes was whether Sir Keir had deliberately orchestrated the support fro a so-called People’s Vote.

The Tories were quick to seize on his words. Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis tweeted: “Labour would take us back to square one on Brexit.”

But Labour MP David Lammy, a Remain campaigner, tweeted: “Brilliant to hear @Keir_Starmer confirm no one is ruling out remain in a #PeoplesVote. This is the most democratic way to move forward. Credit must go to activists for standing up for our party’s international values. #Lab18”

Brendan Chilton, the head of Labour Leave, said the party was “playing with fire” by discussing a second referendum. He said: “The fact that people like Keir Starmer are throwing around the possibility of a second referendum is devastating to the party’s brand. It makes us look like the party of Remain.”

Earlier, Sir Keir had suggested Labour might seek to delay leaving the EU be-yond the deadline of March 29 next year if talks fail to produce an acceptable deal.

Pressed on whether he was keeping open the option of delaying Brexit to allow a new negotiation, he told Talk Radio: “I don’t think at this stage anybody is talking about extending Article 50, but if it has to be extended quite frankly it will be because of the collapsing failure of the discussions and the negotiations.”

The conference was set to approve a motion that fudges Labour’s official position and rejects calls from younger members for an explicit vote on whether to accept a Brexit deal or remain in the EU. Sir Keir also implied Mr McDonnell had been overtired yesterday when he appeared to rule out a remain option, saying: “We finished our meeting about one in the morning and then John was up early doing the media round.”

Asked by Today if Mr McDonnell had been “struggling with not enough sleep”, Sir Keir said: “No, no, to be fair, John did a number of interviews yesterday and he did say later in the day that all options are on the table.”

In his speech, Sir Keir pledged Labour would oppose any deal brought back from Brussels by Theresa May that fails the party’s six tests — which critics say are impossible to meet.

“If Theresa May brings back a deal that fails our tests — and that looks increasingly likely — Labour will vote against it,” he said. “No ifs … no buts.” The tests set conflicting goals, such as gaining the exact same benefits of the single market — which implies freedom of movement — while insisting Britain should manage migration “fairly”.

In an interview with the Standard to-day, deputy leader Tom Watson made clear Remain would be an option if there were a second referendum. “I think at this point we don’t rule anything out,” he said. “Parliament will have to decide [what’s on the ballot]. That would require a debate, an amendment and talks with other parties. The delegates today are pretty clear that they don’t want anything ruled out.”

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