With the spotlight still firmly on Theresa May\u2019s attempt to get her EU deal through Parliament, Dr Adrian Pabst, Head of the School of Politics and International Relations, asks if the Labour Party is shifting its position from advocating a soft Brexit to endorsing Remain.<\/p>\n
He said: \u2018Officially\u00a0Labour continues to be committed to leaving the EU<\/strong>\u00a0when Article 50 ends on 29 March 2019. But it\u00a0opposes both May\u2019s deal and the prospect of crashing out without a deal<\/strong>. So far the strategy is to table a vote of no confidence in the Conservative government if \u2013 and, as seems overwhelmingly likely, when \u2013 May\u2019s deal fails in the House of Commons sometime next week.<\/p>\n \u2018Jeremy Corbyn\u00a0wants to force, and win, an early election<\/strong>\u00a0and then negotiate a different Brexit deal with the EU that meets Labour\u2019s six tests \u2013 including the \u201cexact same benefits\u201d as membership of the Single Market and the Customs Unions. It is\u00a0Corbyn\u2019s equivalent of Boris Johnson\u2019s \u201chaving your cake and eat it\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018However, the EU has made it perfectly clear that\u00a0it will not compromise<\/strong>\u00a0on the integrity of the Single Market and the four freedoms. Since Corbyn has pledged to end the free movement of people, the sort of\u00a0substantially different Brexit deal promised by Labour is utopian<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u2018If Labour fails to win a vote of no confidence and there is no snap election, then the UK risks leaving with no deal. That leaves the option of a second referendum, the so-called People\u2019s Vote,\u00a0which the Shadow Chancellor John McDonald seems to favour<\/strong>in case Labour cannot bring about a General Election.<\/p>\n \u2018But\u00a0what will the referendum question be<\/strong>? May\u2019s deal versus Remain? May\u2019s deal versus no deal? A three-way choice between these two options and remaining in the EU? Or the original question of Leave versus Remain? In his rare moments of contemplating a second referendum,\u00a0Corbyn has gone as far as suggesting that Remain is not on the ballot.<\/strong>\u00a0Meanwhile, Tony Blair wants to return to the choice between Remain and Leave, winner-takes-all.<\/p>\n \u2018There is\u00a0no consensus among the different factions of the Labour Party<\/strong>\u00a0on the referendum question. Nor is there a majority in the House of Commons for a People\u2019s Vote \u2013 for now.<\/p>\n \u2018If there are not the votes for another referendum,\u00a0Labour faces a choice<\/strong>\u00a0between seeing Britain leave with no deal and enabling May\u2019s deal through abstention in a second vote in the House of Commons.\u00a0The stakes could hardly be higher.<\/strong>\u2019\u200b<\/p>\n