This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Labour campaigners for a second Brexit referendum believe they have all but won the battle to force it on to the agenda at the party’s conference in Liverpool, with more than 60 local constituency parties backing a People’s Vote.

Constituency Labour parties (CLPs) can pass “contemporary motions”, calling for individual issues to be discussed, with the top four selected.

With less than a fortnight to go until conference opens, party insiders said a second Brexit referendum is way out in front as an issue to discuss, and could reach 70 CLPs backing it by the deadline of Thursday – with the next most popular receiving only a handful of endorsements. More than 200 CLPs have told campaigners they will debate the issue.

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Several shadow cabinet members have been careful not to reject the idea of a second referendum outright in recent weeks, though the preference of Jeremy Corbyn and his close allies is for a general election that could bring Labour to power.

The CLP motions have been coordinated by a series of cross-cutting campaign groups, including Labour for a People’s Vote and Another Europe is Possible.

For our Future’s Sake (FFS), the youth campaign associated with the People’s Vote, published a pair of provocative videos on Tuesday night aimed at convincing Labour members to back the idea.

They place the arguments about Brexit in the context of progressive political movements in British history, including the fight for women’s suffrage and the campaign against fascism in the 1930s.

Play Video 1:22 FFS campaigners send message to Labour members with provocative videos

Momentum, the grassroots campaign group set up to support Jeremy Corbyn, is balloting its members about Brexit – but not until after Labour conference is over.

A Labour spokesman said: “A second referendum is not our policy and we aren’t calling for one.”

Should Brexit be selected as a topic for discussion in the priorities ballot, which seems highly probable, the final wording of any motion will be decided on the Sunday evening of the Liverpool conference.

It is likely that there will be multiple variations of motions on Brexit, though Labour for a People’s Vote has offered a template, but motions on the same topic are usually “composited” together.

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Senior party sources suggested the Labour leadership would have little difficulty accepting a motion along the lines of that passed by Unite, Labour’s biggest union backer, at its policy conference earlier this year.

The motion tabled by the union leadership said it was “open to the possibility of a popular vote being held on any deal, depending on political circumstances”, but said its priority was to force an early general election.

On Monday, the Trades Union Congress took a formal step towards campaigning for a vote on the final Brexit deal. Union leaders said they were not calling for a second referendum, but for a say on any deal that would affect pay and employment rights, with preference for a general election.

Delegates voted in favour of a TUC general council statement that said: “Congress calls on the general council to mobilise our movement politically and industrially to prevent either a cliff-edge Brexit or if the government’s withdrawal deal fails to meet the TUC’s tests.”