Stop Brexit? | UK’s Labour party mulls backing new referendum

Britain’s main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a thumbs up ahead of the annual party conference

Britain’s Labour Party may hold the fate of Brexit in its hands — if only it can decide what to do.

With the U.K. and the European Union at an impasse in divorce talks, many Labour members think the left-of-center opposition party has the power — and a duty — to force a new referendum that could reverse Britain’s decision to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has long opposed that idea, and a showdown on the issue looms at the party’s annual conference, which starts today [Macau time] in the port city of Liverpool. As delegates gathered, one message was emblazoned on hundreds of T-shirts and tote bags: “Love Corbyn, Hate Brexit.”

Ever since Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU, Labour has said it will respect the result, although it wants a closer relationship with the bloc than the one Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government is seeking.

Now, with divorce negotiations stuck and Britain due to leave in March, many Labour members think the party must change its course.

“Labour have to come to a decision. The time has gone for sitting on the fence,” said Mike Buckley of Labour for a People’s Vote, a group campaigning for a new Brexit referendum.

To drive home the message, several thousand People’s Vote supporters marched through Liverpool, waving blue-and-yellow EU flags alongside Union Jacks and holding signs reading “Bin Brexit,” ‘’Exit from Brexit” — and a few ruder slogans.

More than 100 local Labour associations have submitted motions to the conference urging a public plebiscite, with a choice between leaving on terms agreed upon by the government or staying in the EU. Party chiefs will decide today which motions will be up for debate and votes at the four-day conference.

Margaret Mills, a delegate from Orpington in southern England, said her local party had passed a motion calling on Labour to “stop Brexit by any means — well, short of physical violence.”

“I think the time for vagueness is over,” she said.

Corbyn — a veteran socialist who views the EU with suspicion — has long been against holding a second public vote on Brexit, although his opposition appears to be softening.

He said that he would prefer a general election rather than a referendum, but added: “Let’s see what comes out of conference.” AP