Labour is likely to vote down any withdrawal agreement Theresa May reaches with the EU, even if the alternative she presents is crashing out without a deal, the party’s Brexit spokesman has said.

Keir Starmer predicted the deal the prime minister was likely to secure in the coming weeks would fail Labour’s six tests, so the party was preparing to reject it in parliament.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “I think it is going to be a very bad deal. I don’t think it is going to meet our tests and we shouldn’t be voting for a deal which we don’t think is in the national interest.”

In a speech to Labour’s conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Starmer will formalise the party’s resolve to try to scupper any agreement that amounts to a “blind Brexit”. He will say: “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.”

Quick Guide What are Labour's six Brexit tests? Show Does it ensure a strong and collaborative future relationship with the EU?

Does it deliver the “exact same benefits” as we currently have as members of the single market and customs union?

Does it ensure the fair management of migration in the interests of the economy and communities?

Does it defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom?

Does it protect national security and our capacity to tackle cross-border crime?

Does it deliver for all regions and nations of the UK?



On Today, Starmer rejected May’s argument that the alternative to the deal she hoped to secure would be leaving the EU without a deal. He said: “We cannot carry on with this idea that the prime minister can bring back any deal that she cobbles together and we must all vote for it however awful it is, because something even worse will happen.

“That’s not a meaningful vote. There has to be a point where parliament says it is not good enough, and I don’t think there’s a majority in parliament for no deal. I don’t think no deal is the consequence. That’s why we are putting other options on the table.”

In a series of morning interviews, Starmer again insisted the Labour leadership was united on the possibility of a second referendum and whether it would include an option to remain.

Delegates at the party’s conference in Liverpool are expected to back a plan that could lead to a fresh public vote that could include the option of ditching Brexit altogether. Starmer, who said he would vote to stay in the EU if that was an option, played down the divisions at the top of the party over the plan.

Under the terms of the motion to be voted on at the conference on Tuesday, if Labour cannot force an early general election it will “support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote”. Starmer said the scope of the motion was “wide enough to encompass the option of remain” in any referendum.

On BBC Breakfast, he was played a clip of the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, on Monday saying Labour would respect the original referendum and any subsequent vote would only be on the terms of the deal.

Starmer pointed out that McDonnell later clarified that voting to remain could still be on any second vote. He said: “John later in the day said: ‘Yes, all options are on the table’. So there isn’t this difference between me and John McDonnell. The whole Labour party is united around the motion that is going forward this morning.”