Labour set to vote against EU Withdrawal Bill this week - Corbyn
2 min read
Labour is set to vote against the Government's flagship Brexit bill when it reaches its final stages in the Commons this week, Jeremy Corbyn has said.
The opposition leader said unless Theresa May offered concessions on areas such as workers' rights and the environment, he would instruct his MPs to reject the legislation.
Meanwhile Labour has rejected a renewed attempt from the SNP and other opposition parties to back the UK remaining in the single market and customs union.
Mr Corbyn has so far said he wants to maintain "tariff-free trade" with the continent, but also argued that Britain would have to be an EU member to stay in the single market.
Looking ahead to this week's vote in Parliament, he told ITV1's Peston on Sunday:
"We've got the vote coming up this week on the EU Withdrawal Bill, we've set down our lines on that which are about democratic accountability, are about protection of workers, environment and consumer rights and are about human rights across Europe such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as the European Court of Human Rights. If our tests are not met by the Government then we will vote against the bill."
SECOND REFERENDUM?
And he did not categorically rule out a second referendum on Brexit, although he made clear it was not Labour's current policy.
"We are not supporting or calling or a second referendum, what we've called for is a meaningful vote in parliament and that is the one area that I think Parliament has asserted itself in the vote just before Christmas," he said.
However just minute earlier, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry suggested there could be a second referendum if there was a big change in public opinion on Brexit.
"As for a second referendum, the question is are you talking about the divorce or the final relationship, because the final relationship will be agreed in many years' time," she told the Andrew Marr Show.
"In either case, if 90% of the population was now saying we should stay in the EU and we must not leave, then that would be a challenge that would be there for all of us who are democrats."
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