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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Labour delegates vote overwhelmingly for Brexit motion backing second referendum as option – as it happened

Delegates voting on the Brexit motion at Labour conference this afternoon.
Delegates voting on the Brexit motion at Labour conference this afternoon. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Abbott says law and order not a Tory issue

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, has just finished her speech to conference. Here are the key points.

  • Abbott said Labour would require the police to get judicial warrants for undercover policing operations. She said:

We know that in this country you generally need a warrant to enter someone’s home or intercept their telephone calls. So we will insist on time limited, judicial warrants for any undercover policing.

  • She insisted law and order was not a Tory issue. She said:

We know who suffers from crime the most: it’s the most vulnerable; women; the elderly; children; all of our ethnic minority communities; the LGBTQ community and disabled people.

So, it is has always been wrong to say ‘law and order’ is somehow a Tory issue. Fighting crime and upholding the law are key issues for our communities and therefore they are key issues for Labour.

  • She criticised the government for not doing anything to prevent a repeat of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

The government refuses to accept that their cuts to fire services are responsible for longer response times. They refuse to accept that privatisation and deregulation, led inevitably to disasters like Grenfell. More than a year later they have not produced a single initiative that would prevent a repeat of Grenfell. The government is failing to protect communities and ensure their safety.

Diane Abbott speaking at the conference.
Diane Abbott speaking at the conference. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

Labour delegates vote overwhelmingly in favour of Brexit motion backing second referendum as option

The Brexit composite motion has been passed overwhelmingly on a show of hands. Only a handful of people voted against.

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, has said Labour needs to be “a little more relaxed” about all women-shortlists being hijacked by trans candidates, lamenting the fact that the debate about gender-identity is so “aggressive”.

At a fringe event with The Times’s Matt Chorley she said the feminist movement was “big enough” to include transgender candidates who were born men but believe they are women. She said:

I found the trans debate quite challenging, but talking to people, and listening to people when they are not shouting, what really struck me, what I have learned from feminism, is there are people who are marginalised and people who are treated badly. The feminism movement is big enough, and if someone believes they are born a man but are a woman, we have space.

Sometimes people say ‘What about women’s shortlists?’ There’s going to be a whole load of men turning up in dresses.Really?

You know, leaders have a good sense of their local parties, they will decide who they are going to have on their shortlist and they will have a good idea of people who are genuinely struggling with their identity and people who can contribute to parliament and be a good representative.

I think we need to be a little more relaxed about it and I think it’s desperately sad to see the way in which it’s become so aggressive. We need to step down a little bit.

Corbyn refuses to say how he would vote in any second Brexit referendum

Jeremy Corbyn has been giving a series of interviews to broadcasters today. The Press Association’s Andrew Woodcock was sitting in, and he has filed the best quotes, embargoed until 5pm. Here they are.

  • Corbyn refused to say how he would voted in a second Brexit referendum. Asked about this by Sky, he said:

Well we don’t know what the question is going to be in the referendum so that is a hypothetical question. I can’t answer that question because we don’t know what the question is going to be.

When Channel 4 News asked if he would rule out voting remain, he replied:

We will decide what our position is. I am the leader of the party and I will respect the decision of the party.

  • He backed what Sir Keir Starmer said in his conference speech about remain being an option in any second referendum backed by Labour. Asked if he supported Starmer’s words, he said:

Those are the words of the motion that was supported by the National Executive and the shadow cabinet and that is what is being voted on in conference. I think it’s going to be carried by a very large majority.

Keir put that in because it’s what’s there in the motion.

Corbyn said Starmer’s speech was cleared in advance by his office. Asked if that included the ad libbed line about remain being an option, Corbyn said: “The speech was cleared.”

  • Corbyn did not rule out revoking article 50. Asked if Brexit would definitely go ahead on 29 March, he replied:

At the moment it looks like it, and we will challenge this government with the six tests. If they don’t meet them, then we will vote against them.

Asked if article 50 would have to be extended, he replied:

That is not in our hands. Article 50 can only be extended by the agreement of the entirety of the European Union.

Earlier Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said clearly that if Labour won an early general election, it would seek to extend article 50. (See 3.14pm.)

I took part in some programmes with Press TV. ... I severed my connection because of the way they treated the opposition parties.

Every programme I spoke on, I talked about human rights.

I haven’t noticed it if they are. It’s not something that keeps me awake at night, in fact nothing keeps me awake at night.

  • He said he would carry on as Labour leader until he has achieved his goal. Asked how long he would carry on, he said:

I’m very healthy, very fit, very proud to lead our party. I will carry on doing exactly that because I want to bring about a social transformation and give real hope to young people and those who are up against it in our society.

Asked when he would feel the job was done, he replied: “When we’ve achieved it.”

Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Updated

Carwyn Jones says having remain option in Brexit referendum 'likely'

In the Welsh assembly today, in response to a question from the Plaid Cymru AM Steffan Lewis, the Labour first minister Carwyn Jones explained the difficulties with holding a referendum if Theresa May does secure a Brexit deal. Asked if he thought the referendum should include an option to remain in the EU, he replied:

I think that’s likely. I think that there are two possibilities here, are there not? If there’s no deal, then it would be ‘no deal’ or remain. If there is a deal, it becomes a bit more complicated, in the sense that it’s: ‘Do you accept the deal? But, if you don’t, what do you want: “no deal” or remain?’ There are ways in which the Electoral Commission, I’m sure, can finesse that referendum. But, if there’s no deal on the table, well, surely people have the right to express a view as to whether they wish to leave in circumstances that not one Brexiteer suggested would happen. Nobody said two years ago, ‘If there’s no deal, it doesn’t matter.’ No-one said it. Everyone said, ‘There will be a deal.’ That’s changed.

Emily Thornberry's speech - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about Emily Thornberry’s speech. It is getting rave reviews.

From the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire

From the Independent’s Tom Peck

From the New Statsman’s Patrick Maguire

From the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar

From the Daily Record’s Torcuil Crichton

From Jewish News’ Jack Mendel

From the Daily Telegraph’s Steven Swinford

From the BBC’s James Landale

From the Times’ Patrick Kidd

In the conference Maddy Kirkman, a delegate from Edinburgh Central, is now speaking on Brexit. She says trade unionists know that, if you strike a deal, you should put it to your members. And they would never bring forward a deal worse than the status quo, she says. She backs the motion.

Here is some video of Emily Thornberry’s speech.

Antisemites on the left are like fascists, Thornberry says

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, finished her speech to the conference a few minutes ago. It was a big picture speech, packed with history and sweeping declarations about human rights, and Thornberry delivered it with shouty passion which sounded a bit forced but which seemed to go down well with the audience. Here are the highlights.

  • Thornberry compared antisemites on the left to fascists, and said Labour should fight against both. She was speaking in the context of the row about the party’s stance on antisemitism, and she depicted racists and antisemites as being equivalent to fascists. She said:

Conference, let me speak to you from the depths of my heart and my soul and say something I never thought I’d have to say in my lifetime as a Labour member and activist, and it is simply this: that if we want to root out fascism and racism and hatred from our world, and from our country, then we must start, we must start, with rooting it out of our own party.

We all support the Palestinian cause, we are all committed to recognise the Palestinian state, and I stand here with no hesitation when I condemn the Netanyahu government for its racist policies and its criminal actions against the Palestinian people.

But I know as well, and we must all acknowledge, that there are sickening individuals on the fringes of our movement, who use our legitimate support for Palestine as a cloak and a cover for their despicable hatred of Jewish people, and their desire to see Israel destroyed. Those people stand for everything that we have always stood against and they must be kicked out of our party the same way Oswald Mosley was kicked out of Liverpool.

  • She said there was no need for a new Anti-Nazi League because Labour effectively was the anti-Nazi League. She said:

We were there in Spain fighting Franco in 1936. We were there in Cable Street that same year fighting alongside the Jewish community to stop the Blackshirts. We were here in Liverpool a year later, when Oswald Mosley tried to speak in this great city and was forced out without saying a word. And we were there in the 1980s - I was there myself - when we marched against the National Front.

And let’s remember Conference, we won all those battles! We beat the Blackshirts, and the NF, and the BNP, and the EDL, and whatever they call themselves today, however they dress up their racial hatred, we are there in the same streets telling the fascists: ‘No Pasaran’.

And when we look back on all those battles, stretching back 80 years, I make a simple point, it hasn’t been thousands of Tories assembling in the streets to fight the forces of fascism. It’s been the men and women in this room. It’s been Jack Jones and Jeremy’s parents. It’s been Jon Lansman and Len McCluskey, Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. So while I make a point of never disagreeing with John on anything, I disagree with him on this: we don’t need a new Anti-Nazi League, because the Anti-Nazi League is in this hall and on this stage.

That was a reference to John McDonnell’s call for a new Anti-Nazi League. Thornberry’s line worked very well in the hall, and received a strong round of applause, although describing Labour as the Anti-Nazi League is potentially risky; the Anti-Nazi League was seen as a front organisation for the far-left SWP.

  • She called for an end to abusive online debate.

Because if we truly want to realise the dream of The Internationale to unite the human race, and re-unite our country, then again we must start with uniting our own party, and ending the pointless conflicts which divide our movement, which poison our online debate, and which distract us from fighting the Tories.

Because as Gandhi said: “We but mirror the world so if we could change ourselves, the world would also change.” But if we can’t show the strength to change ourselves to change the way we behave to each other, how can we ever hope to change the country, and aspire to change the world?

  • She said Jeremy Corbyn was in a position to offer global leadership on foreign affairs. She said:

It is also – far more dangerously – the rise of leaders projecting a form of nationalism not defined by love of one’s country and one’s people, but by hatred towards everyone else; by the erosion of democracy and free speech; and by the demonisation of any minority, any religion, and indeed any media outlet deemed to be ‘the enemy’ ...

That is why our world leaders shrug their shoulders as the climate Ccange crisis reaches the point of no return. That is why governments like ours continue to sell arms to Saudi Arabia even when it is proven that those weapons are being used to murder innocent children in Yemen. That is why the war in Syria too remains so intractable and destructive, with the dozen major countries involved not striving to stop it, but playing their own lethal power games with other peoples’ lives.

That is why North Korea can happily continue developing their bomb; Iran can keep Nazanin jailed for a third year; Myanmar and Cameroon can slaughter their own citizens at will; Russia can act with impunity not just in Syria but in Salisbury; and Donald Trump can tear up treaties it took other leaders years to agree.

All because Conference, the world order has been turned into a global free-for-all, and the leadership to fix it is simply not there. But Conference, it’s here in this hall, it’s here on this stage, it’s here in Jeremy Corbyn. And we as the Labour Party in government must strive to lead the world in a different direction.

  • She said under Corbyn the UK would “lead the world in promoting human rights, in reforming the arms trade, in pursuing an end to conflict, in supporting not demonising refugees, and in turning the promise of a nuclear-free world from an impossible dream to a concrete goal.”
Emily Thornberry speaking during the Labour party’s annual conference in Liverpool.
Emily Thornberry speaking during the Labour party’s annual conference in Liverpool. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

As I mentioned earlier, Sir Keir Starmer’s declaration that Labour would not vote for a “vague” Brexit deal shows how difficult it will be for May to get any deal she secures in the autumn through parliament.

On the World at One the Tory MP Mark Francois also increased the pressure on May by saying the European Research Group, which represents around 50 Conservative MPs backing a harder Brexit, would refuse to vote for a Brexit deal based on the Chequers plan. He said:

We’ve yet to know what the final deal looks like, but if it is based on Chequers then myself and my colleagues in the ERG cannot vote for Chequers because we believe it doesn’t represent Brexit. We would like the prime minister to change tack and to move towards a more Canada-style free trade agreement, we think that has many, many advantages for the UK.

But if push really comes to shove and they try to put Chequers through the House of Commons then I and my colleagues will vote against it.

An ERG source said that Francois was making an official statement on behalf of the group, not freelancing.

Emily Thornberry backs extending article 50

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said the Labour party will seek to extend article 50 to give it the time to negotiate a better Brexit deal for Britain. At a fringe event with the Times’s Red Box editor Matt Chorley, she promised it would be part of the new Brexit manifesto. She said:

We should have a general election and on our manifesto we should say ‘we will abide by the results of the referendum’, we cannot obviously leave in current circumstances, we need to extend article 50 - to pre-empt your next question I don’t know how long it will take - but we need to extend article 50 and essentially turn up in Europe and say the ‘grown ups have turned up now, let’s sit down and talk.

Article 50 can only be extended by the unanimous agreement of the 27 other member states, and on the request of the withdrawing state, which May has already said she is not prepared to do.

Colin Monehen, a delegate from Harlow, has just finished a speech moving the contemporary composite on Palestine. It was very powerful stuff - one of the most emotional speeches of the day - and it started with Monehen asking delegates to imagine two babies born in Jerusalem, one Israeli and one Palestinian, and he went on to describe the plight of thousands of Palestinians forced out of their homes when Israel was created in 1948. He said the UK could not ignore the need to put right this injustice because it was involved in what happened. Towards the end of his speech the conference chair told him his time was up. Monehen said they would have to send an army to get him off the stage because he was speaking for the Palestinians, and he was allowed to finish.

Some delegates are waving Palestinian flags. That prompted another delegate to stand up complaining about double standards; in the morning, he said, some people wanted to wave EU flags, but the stewards would not allow it, he said.

Palestinian supporters wave Palestinian flags during a debate at the Labour conference.
Palestinian supporters wave Palestinian flags during a debate at the Labour conference. Photograph: James McCauley/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, told a fringe meeting at lunchtime that article 50 should be extended (ie, that Brexit should be postponed beyond 29 March 2019), my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports.

Updated

The afternoon session of the conference has just started. Delegates are debating two contemporary motions, on justice for the Windrush generation, and on Palestine.

Lord Dubs, the Labour peer behind the “Dubs amendment” saying the UK should take in 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees, is speaking now. He says when he first proposed the amendment, Theresa May, the then home secretary, called him in and asked him to withdraw it. She was worried that it would lead to more child migrants coming, he says. He says he ignored her. Subsequently public opinion shifted, and the government said it would back the amendment. But ministers have not honoured it in word or in spirit, he says.

Here is a picture of Jeremy Corbyn embracing David Mallon, the delegate who said he was he was opposed to a referendum and who described the EU as a “capitalists’ club”, after his speech. See 12.45pm. A colleague who witnessed it said that Mallon was lingering on the stage afterwards, as if holding out for some sort of acknowledgement from Corbyn, and that you should not read too much into Corbyn’s decision to hug him.

David Mallon (left) and Jeremy Corbyn after Mallon’s speech to the conference.
David Mallon (left) and Jeremy Corbyn after Mallon’s speech to the conference.
 Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

Lunchtime summary

  • Sir Keir Starmer, has mobilised Labour support for a second referendum on Brexit in a speech that saw him receive wild applause after he declared: “Nobody is ruling out remain as an option.” He was speaking at the start of a debate on a compromise motion saying a second referendum should be an option for the party. The motion is bound to be approved overwhelmingly when delegates vote on it late this afternoon. But it does not absolutely commit the leadership to holding a second referendum in the event of a general election not being called (see here for the full text) and the debate illustrated how the wording of the compromise has managed to gloss over significant differences in the party on this topic. About an hour after Starmer finished Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, the most powerful union in the party, used his speech to say Starmer was wrong about remain being an option in a second referendum backed by Labour. (See 12.35pm.) Turner said:

If the Tory benches aren’t brave enough to do that, to stand up to the Johnsons and Moggs - if they fail us, we demand they go back to the people with a vote on the deal.

That is not in a second referendum, despite what Keir Starmer may have said earlier, it will be a public vote, that’s a vote on the terms of our departure.

Keir Starmer speaking at the Labour conference.
Keir Starmer speaking at the Labour conference. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

And this is from the former Labour Number 10 adviser Theo Bertram.

  • Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, has announced a five-point emergency plan to revive high streets. (See 1.14pm.)
Delegates listening to speeches at the Labour party’s annual conference in Liverpool.
Delegates listening to speeches at the Labour party’s annual conference in Liverpool. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Updated

Labour proposes 5-point plan to revive high streets

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, was the final speaker in the conference hall this morning. She had two announcements to make.

  • Long-Bailey proposed a five-point emergency plan to revive high streets. She said:

Thriving high streets were once the centre of communities, somewhere local people were proud of but once flourishing businesses are now replaced by boarded-up shops with almost 25,000 vacant retail and leisure premises across Great Britain. Household names such as Toys R Us and Maplin have disappeared and big brands like New Look and M&S are closing stores across the country.

The move to online retail and the changing nature of the way we shop doesn’t need to mean empty high streets and job losses. It can mean a vibrant community space, with local independent shops, cafes and restaurants.

But that will require governmental action to reinvigorate our high streets ..

Today I am announcing Labour’s emergency 5-point plan to save Britain’s high streets.

The next Labour government will ban ATM charges and stop Post Office and bank branch closures.

We will provide free bus travel for under 25s.

Deliver free public Wi-Fi in town centres.

Establish a register of landlords of empty shops in each local authority.

And finally, on one of the most pressing issues, business rates we will introduce annual revaluations of rates, exempt new plant and machinery from revaluations, ensure a fair appeals system and fundamentally review the business rates system to bring it into the 21st century.

Long-Bailey stressed that these were measures that could be introduced immediately. The party was also working on long-term measures to address the problem, she said.

The truth is the Tories are off track to meet our current targets.

We acknowledge that the UK needs to do much more to meet the Paris agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C. So today I state firmly that a Labour government will back a target for net zero emissions by 2050.

My colleague Adam Vaughan has more on this here.

Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Rebecca Long-Bailey. Photograph: David Gadd/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

My colleague Martin Kettle has written a good column about the Keir Starmer speech. Here is an extract.

“Nobody,” said Starmer, “is ruling out remain as an option.” The response in the hall to that was immediate. First an instant volley of applause, but then, from deeper in the hall, and somehow also from somewhere deeper in the gut of the party conference, came the cheering, prolonged and surging, and then the standing ovation.

It was a powerful moment. As someone who has been reporting party conferences for a very long time, I can’t remember all that many like it in any party. It’s rare for a politician, even addressing their supporters, to hit the spot with something truly unexpected and powerful. But Starmer’s embrace of the possibility of remaining in the EU hit that spot unerringly. It was, it seems, an improvised addition to the speech. The words weren’t in the planned text. But the words mattered – and so did the response in the hall. Most were on the feet. The applause went on and on. This was, it suddenly felt, a Labour party that really is up for a fight to preserve Britain’s place in Europe.

And here is the full article.

A colleague who was in the hall says David Mallon, the speaker who said he was opposed to a referendum and who described the EU as a “capitalists’ club”, was embraced by Jeremy Corbyn as he left the stage. (See 12.38pm.) Mallon got quite emotional towards the end of his speech, and my colleague says it might have been a comfort hug, rather than an indication that Corbyn agreed with every word. But still ...

Bruce Hogan, a councillor from the Forest of Dean, says having another referendum would not be anti-democratic. Hundreds of thousands of people have changed their mind, he says. He says they realise the leave campaign told lies.

And that’s the last speech in the morning debate. But there will be more time for debate this afternoon, before the vote, the conference chair says.

David Mallon, a delegate from Blyth Valley, is the first speaker to come out clearly against a people’s vote. He says delegates should remember what people feel about this in places like Blyth Valley. He says he is now against the EU because he sees it as a “capitalists’ club”. The EU has used free trade to take advantage of workers in Eastern Europe. But he is not anti-European, he says. He is a third-generation refugee from Poland. His family were expelled from Poland after the war because they were German nationals.

He says Labour should push for a general election instead.

Unite official says Starmer was wrong to say remain would be an option in second referendum

Steve Turner, the Unite assistant general secretary, says many trade unionists did vote for Brexit. They feel left behind, in communities battered by austerity. “A perfect storm” has divided the nation. It is Labour’s job to step up, and get access to the single market and customs union membership.

He says a vote on the deal would not be a second referendum. Despite what Keir Starmer said earlier, it would be a public vote on the terms of departure, he says.

Turner seems to be channelling the views of his boss, the Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.

He gets a decent round of applause, but it is not as loud as the applause the more anti-Brexit speakers have been getting.

Barbara Pezzini, a delegate from Maidstone and the Weald, is speaking now. She says 76% of people in her constituency voted for Brexit. But now that people are seeing how disastrous it is, they are changing their minds, she says. The mood in the country is changing, she says. She urges delegates to back the Brexit motion.

Bryn Jones, from Bath, is speaking now. He says he wants to urge some points of “caution” about a second referendum.

First, the Tories would be able to choose the wording. They could slant it, he suggests.

Second, if there were to be a Brexit, the consequences for Labour could be dangerous. A close result could continue the split in the country and the party. So the leadership should think carefully. He says:

What we want is not a referendum, not a people’s vote, because that does not give us the opportunity to put in place our policies.

The priority must be an election, he says.

And a Ukip press release has just arrived in my inbox, and it’s almost identical to Labour Leave’s. (See 12.18pm.) Referring to Keir Starmer’s speech, the Ukip leader Gerard Batten said:

Keir Starmer is another member of the remainer elite who thinks he knows better than the people. I will remind Mr Starmer that five million Labour voters also voted for Brexit.

Labour, Liberal or Tory, it’s clear that if people want Brexit then they will have to vote for UKIP at the next general election.

Labour Leave has described Keir Starmer’s speech this morning as a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and a betrayal of millions of Labour voters. In a statement its general secretary, Brendan Chilton, said:

This is a betrayal of the very highest order. It is a betrayal not only of the millions of Labour voters, but of our 2017 manifesto.

It is a betrayal that voters will remember for a very long time, and we will lose MPs as a result. There is no doubt. It was a P45 to our MPs in the Midlands and Wales.

But let me be clear on another thing: Keir’s speech today was a challenge to Jeremy’s leadership. It was a carefully calculated pitch, no doubt written with a team of advisers. He is undermining Jeremy, John McDonnell and millions of Labour voters -- and he knows it.

Tosh McDonald, Aslef’s president, has just finished speaking. He described how much he hated Margaret Thatcher. Jeremy Corbyn may be above hate, he said, but he wasn’t. He said he hated Thatcher every hour of the day, and used to set his alarm clock so he could get up early because he wanted to have an extra hour a day hating her.

UPDATE: Here’s the quote.

I hated her. I wish I could be like Jeremy and rise above it but I can’t...

I did set my alarm clock an hour earlier than I needed just so I could hate her for an hour longer.

Since she died I don’t do that anymore, I just set my alarm at the right time, but I still wake up an hour earlier - I can’t help it.

Tosh McDonald speaking at the conference.
Tosh McDonald speaking at the conference. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

On the subject of the compositing meeting, the Independent’s Joe Watts has written an excellent feature describing in detail what happened at that meeting, and how a deal was struck.

Carolanne Lello, a delegate from Stourbridge, says she wants to clear up some misunderstandings about the compositing meeting. She says there was give and take on both sides, which is proper in a negotiation, and she says she is proud of the result.

Every delegate with a motion on Brexit was there. It was not just key delegates; she is a working mum from Stourbridge, not someone special, but she was there at this historic meeting, she says. That is what Labour is about - “normally people making the right decisions for the many not the few.”

Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the TSSA transport union, is speaking now. He is one of the most anti-Brexit of the union leaders. He says Jacob Rees-Mogg said it would take 50 years for the benefits of Brexit to be felt. That is not something we can tolerated, he says.

Gemma Bolton, a delegate, is speaking now. She says Labour must respect the result of the referendum. A second referendum would be divisive, she says. She urges delegates to back the motion because it does not tie the hands of the leadership.

Tony Kearns, the CWU union deputy general secretary, is speaking in the debate now in favour of the Brexit motion. He says the situation has moved on from 2016. Labour is not in charge of what is happening, he says. The situation is a mess, but this motion gives the leadership the freedom to decide what tactics are best, he says.

Updated

The People’s Vote campaign has sent out this response to Keir Starmer’s speech from one of its supporters, the Labour MP Alison McGovern.

When Keir Starmer says Labour must campaign for a public vote with remain as an option and he gets standing ovation from our party, you know just how far we’ve come in the past few weeks. Labour is united around a policy that can not only help us the next election but will ensue we can be the radical, reforming government we all want.

The answer to this mess is a People’s Vote that gives voters the option of staying in the EU. That is what Labour members and supporters want and it is the direction in which Labour are now travelling.

At the weekend People’s Vote released polling suggesting that Labour members support a referendum on the final Brexit outcome by about nine to one.

The Brexit motion is being debated alongside another composite on government contracts, and a section from a policy commission report on the environment. That means there will be relatively few Brexit speeches.

This is the line in Keir Starmer’s speech that generated the prolonged round of applause. He said:

If [a general election] is not possible, we must have other options. And, conference, that must include campaigning for a public vote. Conference, it’s right that parliament has the first say. But 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.

Interestingly, the final clause, the one that I have highlighted in bold and the one that particularly fired up the hall, was not in the official text of the speech sent out just now by the Labour press office. Starmer seems to have been ad libbing.

Updated

Jane Begley, a councillor and a delegate from Exeter, is seconding the Brexit composite now.

She says it is important not to alienate those who voted leave. This motion does not bind the leadership but empowers them to act through the unpredictable times ahead, she says.

Tim Roache, the GMB general secretary, is speaking now.

He is moving the composite motion. The GMB came out in favour of a vote on the final deal at their conference recently.

He pays tribute to Keir Starmer, and says the negotiations would be going better if he were in charge.

He says, if Theresa May is so confident of her deal, she should put it to the people. That is what trade unionists do, he says. He says they get a deal and then put it to their members.

Delegates applaud wildly as Starmer says 'nobody is ruling out remain as an option'

Starmer says, if May comes back with no deal, Labour must shape what happens next.

Its preference is for a general election, he says.

But, if that does not happen, there must be other options, he says. And that must include campaigning for a public debate.

It is right that parliament has the first say, he says. But if there is an impasse, campaigning for a public vote must be an option. He goes on:

And nobody is ruling out remain as an option.

Delegates are cheering and applauding wildly. Some of them stand up. The applause goes on far longer than is normal for a political speech.

UPDATE: See 11.39am for the full quote.

Updated

Starmer is now on the passage briefed overnight saying Labour will vote down a deal that does not meet Labour’s test, or a “blind” detail without details. See 8.05am for the full quote.

Starmer says Tories are offering 'division, chaos and failure' on Brexit.

Starmer says the Tories are offering “division, chaos and failure” on Brexit.

Just when we need a strong government, what do we see from the Tories? Division, chaos and failure.

No credible plan for Brexit. No solution to prevent a hard border in Ireland. And no majority in parliament for the Chequers proposals.

A Tory civil war that has gone on for years, now threatens our future prosperity. The party that once promised that it would fix the roof while the sun was shining is now intent on burning the whole house down.

So, I’ve got a message for the prime minister. ‘If your party wants to tear itself apart, that’s fine, but you’re not taking our country with you.’

Starmer says it is ridiculous for Theresa May to say people should trust her on Brexit.

She created the hostile environment for immigrants, he says.

And he says she appointed a Northern Ireland secretary who doesn’t know the basics.

Starmer says he is an internationalist. He believes the challenges facing the world are based addressed with our EU partners.

Labour did not duck the challenge of Brexit, he says. It would have been easy to wish away the result. But it did not.

Labour was right to say that jobs and the economy must come first, he says.

Keir Starmer opens Labour debate on Brexit

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, is now opening the Labour debate on Brexit.

The decision to shelve the plan to create a second deputy leader post for a woman gives a delicious insight into the internal politics of Labour.

The idea has been around in the party for some years and, after the current deputy leader, Tom Watson, sided with the MPs who wanted to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn in 2016, some Corbynites began to see the scheme as one that could be used to weaken Watson’s position.

Then Watson came out in favour of the idea. And the national executive committee endorsed it.

But in recent days there has been speculation that pro-Europeans in the party could use the election to put up a candidate who would stand on a strong “people’s vote” platform. Given how much support there is for a second referendum amongst the membership, such a candidate could win hansomely - in a result that would be awkward for Corbyn, who is distinctly lukewarm about the whole second referendum idea.

And so the Corbynite left changed their stance. This was signalled this morning in the daily briefing handed out to delegates by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, which is run by the Corbyn ally Peter Willsman. It says:

Having at least one woman of the two members of the leadership team, as proposed by Hornsey and Wood Green, should certainly be supported (although their wording is problematic) but this ill-thought through tokenism is not the way forward ...

We have the leader we need in Jeremy Corbyn. The last thing we need is another divisive leadership contest when we should be focusing on democracy recommendations already in place.

UPDATE: Here is some reaction.

Updated

Labour shelves plan to create second deputy leader post for a woman

Labour has shelved plans to create a second deputy leader post, HuffPost’s Paul Waugh reports.

This is from Luke Akehurst, a centrist in the party and a former member of Labour’s national executive committee.

Updated

And the Conservatives are also criticising Labour for contemplating a second referendum. Brandon Lewis, the Tory chairman, has put out this statement in response to Sir Keir Starmer’s interviews this morning. (See 9.35am.) Lewis said:

Keir Starmer has confirmed Labour would break their promises and take us back to square one on Brexit.

In the space of one morning, he has refused to rule out delaying Brexit, refused to confirm Labour would end freedom of movement, and opened the door to staying in the EU with a second referendum. Labour’s promises on Brexit aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

Labour Leave (which is as it says on the tin) is claiming that backing a second referendum on Brexit could cost the party 19 seats, the BBC’s Norman Smith reports.

UPDATE: In response the anti-Brexit group Best for Britain put out this statement from the Labour MP Virendra Sharma. He said:

This is a barefaced lie from Labour Leave. They’re twisting polling beyond the point of recognition and it lacks dignity. Data shows one hundred and twelve seats have swung to remain since 2016, so we know for a fact that Labour has an historic opportunity to soak up electoral support.

Labour Leave doesn’t represent the wider membership, or Labour voters, who overwhelmingly back a people’s vote with the option to stay.

Updated

At the conference delegates are now debating 14 proposed changes to party rules. One of them would create a second deputy leader post, to be filled by a woman. Many of the 14 ideas are opposed by the leadership, including one that would water down the current rule saying people who support other parties should be banned from joining Labour. Ella Kearney, a delegate in favour of the change, said the current rule was too restrictive because it excluded hard-working socialists who support Labour’s aims and principles. The votes on the changes will take place at the end of the day.

In the conference hall we’re now getting the first dissent over Brexit. A delegate has just intervened to complain about only an hour and a half being set aside for the debate on Brexit. Labour allocated three hours for the debate on Sunday on party rule changes, he says. He says, given that around 150 constituency Labour parties submitted motions on Brexit, more time should have been allocated.

Starmer refuses to rule out Labour backing extending article 50

Here is the quote from TalkRadio when Sir Keir Starmer refused to rule out Labour backing an extension of article 50. Asked if he could guarantee that the UK would leave the EU on 29 March 2019, he replied:

Well the answer is it depends, because we don’t know when we’re going to get a deal. The October deadline might slip to November, November might slip to December. I don’t know, I’m not conducting the negotiations so the timeline is not in our control.

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 has just opened.

The debate on Brexit is scheduled to run from 11am until 12.35pm.

The vote will not take place until the end of the day, at 5.20pm, although the composite is expected to be agreed overwhelmingly.

Keir Starmer's morning interviews - Summary

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has done more or less the full round of media interviews this morning. Here are the key points he made.

  • Starmer refused to rule out Labour backing an extension of article 50. But, in an interview with TalkRadio, he implied he did not expect it. This is from TalkRadio’s Ross Kempsell.
  • Starmer said that Labour had united around a position on Brexit and that this was “amazing”. He said:

What happened on Sunday night is we got 300 or so delegates into a room to composite a motion, to reach agreement. We had to reach consensus ... And we reached consensus. Now, that is amazing.

(Starmer was rather glossing over the fact that Labour has only been able to reach agreement by drafting a composite motion that is sufficiently non-specific to accommodate people with very different views.)

  • He said the Tories would not able to reach an agreed position on Brexit.

We’ve got a proposition that is going to be put to a vote today. There is going to be unity behind that. And I’ll tell you what; I’ll compare, at one o’clock today when we vote on that, to what is going to happen next week at the Tory party conference. If by Tuesday there’s a proposition voted on at the Tory party conference which they have all agreed, I’ll be astonished. But that’s going to happen today with the Labour party.

  • He said, if the UK was heading for a no deal Brexit, the option of remain should be an option in any referendum. He said:

The question will have to be determined when we get to that stage. We don’t know whether there’s a deal or no deal. But if we’re heading for no deal, then there might be a fight between no deal and something else, and the option of remain needs to remain on the table.

  • He suggested that John McDonnell may have said yesterday that remain would not be an option in any referendum on Brexit organised by Labour, which is contrary to the official party position, because he was up early and not properly briefed. Asked about McDonnell’s comments, he said:

Well, we finished our meeting about 1 in the morning. And then John was up early doing the media round.

He also said that McDonnell clarified the position later.

  • Starmer said, if there was another referendum, he would vote to remain. He said:

Oh yes, I would vote in. I voted in last time, I’d vote in if the question was ever put again.

  • He suggested that Labour, while not supporting full free movement, would want a deal with the EU including an arrangement quite similar.

As we leave the EU, freedom of movement falls away, because it’s an EU rule ... What we then have to say is, ‘What then is on the blank piece of paper that is an immigration policy?’ We would a principle-based approach ... In a sensible world, where you are supporting your industries and your economy and you are letting families reunite and communities live together, you would have movement of people across borders to work, you would have families reuniting, you would want students to come to this country. So the idea that you suddenly default to no movement is wrong in principle.

In response to this, the Labour peer Andrew Adonis, who is a diehard opponent of Brexit, accused Starmer of failing to show leadership.

  • Starmer said that, while in principle Labour agreed there should be no preferential access to the UK for EU workers after Brexit, there could be exceptions to this negotiated as part of a trade deal with the EU. This is broadly the same as the government’s position. He said:

As for how people are treated when they come here, I think there is deep resentment of the hostile environment that was applied to some people who come here and not to others and that’s deeply felt and has been exposed over the last few months, and anything that ensures there isn’t that sort of discrimination wherever people come from is a good thing. That having been said, if you want a close economic relationship with the EU, then obviously that will involve a discussion about EU citizens.

  • He said that a no deal could lead to a fall in the value of the pound. He said:

No deal means at midnight in March we rupture our trading arrangements and this will cost jobs, I don’t doubt that the pound will begin to drop.

We won’t have any arrangements for security and counter-terrorism - I worked, when I was director of public prosecutions, on counter-terrorism work across Europe - the idea that we wouldn’t have an arrangement in place for that would horrify people.

And frankly this idea that we might have medicines stockpiled for six weeks has spooked people.

We don’t want to face that situation and we have got a duty to do something to stop it and that’s why the option of a public vote is important as something that may have to happen when we get to that stage.

I said Starmer more or less did the full round of interviews. But he left out ITV’s Good Morning Britain, prompting this tweet from its presenter Piers Morgan.

Morgan is referring to this interview, which led to McDonnell receiving a lot of criticism yesterday.

Keir Starmer speaking to journalists at Labour’s conference in Liverpool.
Keir Starmer speaking to journalists at Labour’s conference in Liverpool. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

Updated

Q: Do you agree with the government that EU nationals and non-EU nationals should be treated the same after Brexit?

Starmer says there is deep resentment about non-EU nationals not being treated the same. But, that notwithstanding, there is case for discussing these rules as part of the deal with the EU. The UK wants a close relationship with the EU. So this would have to be discussed.

And that’s it.

Nick Robinson ends the interview by saying he hopes Jeremy Corbyn will be giving him an interview tomorrow.

(That would be unexpected. Party leaders normally do a Today interview during party conference, but not on the morning of their keynote speech. But perhaps he will pre-record one?)

Q: Labour is opposed to a Canada-style deal and a Norway-style deal. So aren’t you cherry picking, like the government.

Starmer says the UK should not just have to pick a model already available. And he says he does not think that is what the EU is suggesting.

Labour wants to be economically close to the EU. But it must be right for the UK.

Q: The leadership boasts of having a policy marked by constructive ambiguity. That means facing two ways at the same time. You say you want to end free movement, but the composite criticises the government for ending free movement.

Starmer says it would be wrong to default to no movement. Labour wants a deal that allows some movement. There will be difficult discussions about immigration.

Q: Labour can’t deliver a deal. But you can stop parliament having a deal.

Starmer asks why, just because the Tories are split, Labour should have to back a bad deal.

Q: So you would vote with Jacob Rees-Mogg against a deal backed by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.

Starmer repeats the point about it not be right for Labour to back a bad deal.

Q: Did John McDonnell get it wrong yesterday. Or did he reveal what Jeremy Corbyn and his ally Len McCluskey really think?

Starmer says the clear position is that, if there is no election, all options are on the table for a referendum.

Q: McDonnell did rule out having remain on the ballot paper.

Starmer says McDonnell had to get up early before he did his interview. Later he clarified his view.

Q: McDonnell was given four opportunities to say remain could be on the ballot paper, but he did not.

Starmer won’t comment on McDonnell’s motives. But he says Labour will unite. You won’t see that at the Tory conference, he says.

  • Starmer suggests having to get up early may be why John McDonnell said yesterday that remain would not be an option in any second referendum organised by Labour. McDonnell may not have been briefed on the result of the compositing meeting, Starmer suggested.

Updated

Keir Starmer's Today interview

Nick Robinson is interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary.

Robinson starts by playing clips from various Labour figures at the conference giving different views on a second referendum.

And he plays a vox pop from the conference where he asked delegates if they could name any of Labour’s six tests for a Brexit deal. Those quoted could not name any of them.

Starmer starts the interview by saying it is amazing that the party has achieved consensus.

He explains what the composite motion says.

When he set out his six tests, Theresa May said she was determined to meet them, he says.

Labour 'increasingly likely' to vote down May's Brexit deal, Starmer says

Today Labour will debate Brexit, and the possibility of holding a second referendum. The party has drafted a composite motion that says, if Labour cannot get a general election on Brexit, “all options” remain on the table, including a referendum. It says:

If we cannot get a general election Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote. If the government is confident in negotiating a deal that working people, our economy and communities will benefit from they should not be afraid to put that deal to the public.

But some in the party would like Jeremy Corbyn to make a much firmer commitment on this (for example, by promising to fight any election with a manifesto proposing the so-called “people’s vote). It will be interesting to see if activists make this argument during the debate.

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, will be speaking for the leadership. He has been doing a round of interviews this morning, and he is about to go on the Today programme, but in extracts from his speech released overnight he all but confirms that, if Theresa May bring a Brexit deal back from Brussels, Labour will vote against it on the grounds that it will fail the six tests set by the party. He will say:

I know that people want clarity on where we stand on the deal now.

Because some have said Labour could vote for any deal the Tories reach. Some have said we may abstain. Some have said we may support a vague deal – a ‘blind Brexit’ – that gives no detail about the terms of our future relationship.

So, let me be very clear - right here, right now: If Theresa May brings back a deal that fails our tests – and that looks increasingly likely - Labour will vote against it. No ifs, no buts.

And if the prime minister thinks we’ll wave through a vague deal asking us to jump blindfolded into the unknown she can think again. You can’t meet Labour’s tests by failing to provide answers. We will vote down a blind Brexit.

Let me be clear: this isn’t about frustrating the process. It’s about stopping a destructive Tory Brexit. It’s about fighting for our values. And about fighting for our country.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: The conference opens

10.20am: Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, speaks.

12.30pm: Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, speaks.

2.45pm: Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, speaks.

5.10pm: Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, speaks.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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