This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Britain’s biggest union has left the door open to another referendum on the government’s Brexit deal.

Unite, Labour’s most generous donor, also said it was highly unlikely that Labour would vote for Theresa May’s deal on leaving the European Union.



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The development is being interpreted by some observers as an incremental move towards accepting a second referendum, and could increase pressure upon Jeremy Corbyn to do the same.

It also makes it clearer than previous statements that Labour may well vote against the EU withdrawal agreement. Earlier this year, senior frontbench figures including the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, were arguing that it was likely that Labour would vote in favour of the deal.



In a statement issued at the union’s annual conference in Brighton, the executive said: “It remains highly unlikely that the final EU-UK Brexit deal due to come to parliament in the autumn 2018 will satisfy the criteria that Unite and the wider labour movement, including the Labour frontbench with its six tests which must be met, have set.

“At such a moment, Unite will mobilise against the deal. Our priority will be to force an early general election which can lead to the election of a Labour government which would, among other things, reach a better deal with the EU and improved relations with Europe all round. We are also open to the possibility of a popular vote being held on any deal, depending on political circumstances.”

It is understood that Corbyn’s office insist they are relaxed about Unite’s policy development.



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The Labour leader has said the result of the 2016 vote should be respected, but his frontbenchers have been careful not to explicitly rule out a second referendum if the circumstances change.



Earlier in the day, Len McCluskey, Unite’s general secretary, said May’s government had lost all authority or capacity to make decisions.



“We are not, I repeat for my friends in the media, not, calling for a second referendum … But we remain open to the possibility of a vote on any deal the Tories come back with,” he said.

“These people see in Brexit the chance to turn Britain into the low-wage, deregulated, race-to-the-bottom society of their dreams. But Brexit is turning into a nightmare for the rest of us – a nightmare of uncertainty above all. The shadow of job losses is hanging over much of the British economy, including the jobs of tens of thousands of Unite members.”

Corbyn told delegates Labour was back as the political voice of the working class. “Labour exists to represent the large majority of the population, the many, not the few, lower and middle income voters, the skilled and unskilled, nurses and teachers, shop floor workers, builders, designers, technicians, professionals in every community, region and nation,” he said.