Britain's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn looks on during the Labour Party's annual conference at the Arena and Convention Centre (ACC), in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Sept. 25, 2018. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Britain's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn looks on during the Labour Party's annual conference at the Arena and Convention Centre (ACC), in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Sept. 25, 2018. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s main opposition Labour Party announced Tuesday it will reject Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed divorce deal with the European Union if it comes to a vote in Parliament and might even support a new Brexit referendum.

The party’s chief Brexit spokesman accused May’s government of offering the country a choice between “really bad and even worse.”

If Britain and the EU agree on a deal, it must be approved by the British and European parliaments before Britain leaves. The math on the U.K. vote looks ominous for May’s government, because it lacks an overall majority.

Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer told Labour’s annual conference that the party would vote against a Brexit deal along the lines that May is proposing because it does not meet “six tests” it has set, including protecting workers’ rights and retaining access to European markets.

“We do not accept that the choice is between whatever the prime minister manages to cobble together and no deal ... between really bad and even worse,” Starmer said.

Starmer said if the British Parliament rejected the deal, there should be a national election.

“If that is not possible, we must have other options,” he said. “Our options must include campaigning for a public vote — and nobody is ruling out ‘remain’ as an option.”

Starmer’s suggestion that a new referendum could reverse Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the EU — which wasn’t in the advanced printed text of his speech — drew a standing ovation from many delegates in the conference hall.

Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has long opposed the idea of a new Brexit referendum, saying the party must respect voters’ decision to leave.

Most of the party’s 500,000 members voted in 2016 to remain in the EU, but many of its 257 lawmakers represent areas that supported Brexit. Brendan Chilton of the pro-Brexit group Labour Leave argued Tuesday that the party would “hemorrhage votes” if it tried to stop Britain from leaving the 28-nation bloc.

But with Britain due to leave the EU on March 29 and negotiations at an impasse, Corbyn is under intense pressure from party members to support a new public vote.

With a show of hands, conference delegates voted Tuesday to back a compromise motion leaving the option of a second Brexit referendum open, but not calling for it directly.

EU leaders last week rejected the British government’s blueprint for future trade ties at a fractious summit in the Austrian city of Salzburg.

May’s plan seeks to keep the U.K. in the EU’s vast single market for goods but not for services, in order to ensure free trade with the bloc and an open border between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. But EU officials say that amounts to unacceptable “cherry-picking” of elements of membership in the bloc without accepting all the costs and responsibilities.

The Salzburg rebuff left May under siege from Brexit-supporting Conservatives, who want her to seek a looser relationship based on a bare-bones free trade agreement that would leave Britain free to strike new deals around the world.

But May is sticking by her proposal, saying the “hard Brexit” proposed by some Conservatives would be “a bad deal” because it would not resolve the Irish border problem.

“What we have put on the table is a good deal,” she said Tuesday. “It’s a deal which retains the union of the United Kingdom, our constitutional integrity, it’s a deal that provides for no hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, protects jobs and enables us to have a good trading relationship with Europe and also the rest of the world.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that time is tight. An EU summit next month is seen as a make-or-break moment for a Brexit deal.

Speaking in Berlin, Merkel said there were “six to eight weeks of very hard work in front of us in which we must take the political decisions.”

“Of course, to a significant extent, this also depends on what Britain really wants — the discussion isn’t so clear here,” she said.

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Associated Press write rGeir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.</s>LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) - Britain’s opposition Labour Party is set to vote against any deal Prime Minister Theresa May clinches with the European Union and is open to a second referendum with the option of staying in the bloc, Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said on Tuesday.

The Labour Party's Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer walks to a radio interview at his party's conference in Liverpool, Britain, September 25, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

With just over six months until Britain leaves the EU, May has yet to reach a deal on the terms of the divorce, and her plan for future trade ties has been rebuffed by both the EU and many in her own Conservative Party.

May says she will press on with her proposals, and branded Labour’s intention to vote against any agreement that falls short of its demands as “not in the national interest”.

Labour has listed six tests it would apply to any Brexit deal, including a strong future relationship with the EU that delivers the same benefits Britain has as a member of the bloc’s single market and customs union.

Starmer said May was on course to fail these tests.

He called for an election to allow a Labour government to steer Britain’s departure from the EU, the biggest shift in the country’s foreign and trade policy in decades.

“If Theresa May brings back a deal that does not meet our tests - and that looks increasingly likely - Labour will vote against her deal,” he told Labour members at the party’s conference in the northern city of Liverpool.

He repeated Labour’s argument that if parliament rejects May’s Chequers deal, named after the prime minister’s country residence where she hashed out a plan with her ministers, the party would press for a general election.

“But if we need to break the impasse our options must include campaigning for a public vote and nobody is ruling out ‘remain’ as an option,” he said to a prolonged standing ovation in a packed conference hall.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn backed his Brexit spokesman, but declined to say which way he would vote in a possible second referendum because “it depends what the question is”.

“We will challenge this government. If they don’t meet our six tests, we will vote against it, and then we will take it from there,” he said in a television interview.

TEARING UP PLEDGE

An internal EU document seen by Reuters on Tuesday reiterated the bloc’s rejection of Chequers, saying it would “give the UK an unfair competitive advantage”, but it welcomed her proposal of a free-trade are” as “the starting point”.

As for a possible new referendum, EU officials have voiced their doubts.

“That does not sound like a solution to anything. The first referendum is still keeping us busy. And will they want to have a third one in another two years?” asked a senior EU diplomat in Brussels. “It’s more about power struggles in Britain than about managing Brexit seriously.”

May, speaking to reporters on her way to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, said Labour would hurt the country by opposing any deal “regardless of how good it is for the UK,” accusing the party of being ready to “accept any deal Europe gives, regardless of how bad it is”.

“That’s not in the national interest. What we’re doing is in the national interest.”

But with May’s plan for maintaining close ties with the EU for trade in goods facing opposition from her own lawmakers, she is aware of the crucial role Labour could play in getting a deal through parliament.

May has a working majority of just 13 in the 650-seat parliament and a former junior minister said this month as many as 80 of her own lawmakers were prepared to vote against a Brexit deal based on the Chequers plan.

But like her Conservatives and much of the country, Labour is split over how to leave the bloc, with veteran eurosceptic Corbyn under pressure from many members to move to a more pro-EU position.

Brendan Chilton, general secretary of Brexit campaigning group Labour Leave, accused Starmer of launching a leadership bid.

“This is a betrayal of the very highest order. It is a betrayal not only of the millions of Labour voters, but of our 2017 manifesto,” he said, referring to the party’s campaign at last year’s election in which it won more votes than expected.

Labour’s conference passed the motion with a show of hands on Tuesday to keep a second Brexit referendum as an option if May fails to get her Brexit plan through parliament.

The motion reiterates Labour’s position on Brexit: it wants full participation in the EU’s single market and will reject a “no deal Brexit”.

Slideshow (12 Images)

The wording on a possible second referendum is left vague. The party’s finance spokesman, John McDonnell, said any such vote should be on how - not whether - to leave the EU.

But Starmer was clear: the motion could allow Britain to vote to stay in the EU.

“This isn’t about frustrating the process,” he said. “It’s about stopping a destructive Tory Brexit. It’s about fighting for our values and about fighting for our country.”</s>The UK Labour party will vote on whether to have a second Brexit referendum if Theresa May fails to get her plans through parliament.

Jeremy Corbyn says he'd back the move, if that's what the party decides at its annual conference in Liverpool.

The party agreed a motion late last night on what they should do about Brexit, if they can't get a general election.

The Irish Labour party leader, Brendan Howlin, is attending the conference and he says he's hopeful of a second referendum on Brexit.

"I believe that there is a significant majority of Labour activists and members across the British party who would be willing to support a second referendum," he said.</s>LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Britain's main opposition Labour Party confirmed Sunday that it will hold a major debate on Brexit at its party conference this week, raising hopes among Labour members hoping to stop the country from leaving the European Union.

With the U.K. and the European Union at an impasse in divorce talks, many Labour members think the left-of-center 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, but he and other party leaders are under pressure to change their minds. As delegates gathered in Liverpool, 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 on Sunday, waving blue-and-yellow EU flags alongside Union Jacks and holding signs reading "Exit from Brexit" and a few ruder slogans.

More than 100 local Labour associations 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 said Sunday that members and affiliated unions had selected Brexit as one of the priority issues delegates will consider, with a debate scheduled for Tuesday. But what exactly they will vote on has yet to be decided, and will be crucial.

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 Sunday that he would prefer a general election rather than a referendum, but added: "Let's see what comes out of conference."

"Obviously I'm bound by the democracy of our party," Corbyn told the BBC.

Still, Labour faces a major political dilemma over Brexit. Most of the party's half a million members voted in 2016 to remain in the EU, but many of its 257 lawmakers represent areas that supported Brexit.

"For Labour to adopt a second referendum policy would spell political disaster in all those Labour seats that voted leave," said Brendan Chilton of the pro-Brexit group Labour Leave.

Since the 2016 referendum, Labour has stuck to a policy of "constructive ambiguity" in a bid to appeal to both "leave" and "remain" voters. The party opposes May's "Tory Brexit" plan but not Brexit itself. It calls for Britain to leave the EU but remain in the bloc's customs union with "full access" to the EU's huge single market.

Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite trade union, a powerful Labour ally, said British voters had decided to leave the EU and "for us now to enter some kind of campaign that opens up that issue again I think would be wrong."

Yet Pro-EU Labour members, including many lawmakers, say the party's ambiguous stance is becoming increasingly untenable as the risk of an economically damaging "hard Brexit" grows.

The Conservative government's blueprint for future trade ties with the bloc was rejected last week by EU leaders at a summit in Salzburg, Austria. That left May's leadership under siege and Britain at growing risk of crashing out of the EU on March 29 with no deal in place.

Andrew Adonis, a Labour member of the House of Lords who supports holding a second referendum, said Labour can't sit on the sidelines while the country staggers toward political and financial chaos.

"This is as big a crisis as I can remember in my lifetime," Adonis said. "And no one has a clue at the moment what is going to happen.

"That's why I think we now need to take a stand — we the Labour Party and we the country."

Brexit is one of several challenges facing Corbyn, who heads a divided party. He has strong support among grassroots members, many of whom have joined since he was elected leader in 2015. But many Labour lawmakers think his old-fashioned socialism is a turnoff for the wider electorate.

Labour has also been roiled by allegations that Corbyn, a long-time critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, has allowed anti-Semitism to fester inside the party. He has denied it and condemned anti-Semitism, but the furor has angered many Jewish party members and their supporters.

Labour backed the "remain" side during the 2016 referendum but Corbyn's support was lukewarm.

"Jeremy Corbyn is a Brexiteer and always has been," said Chilton of Labour Leave. "More and more people now support us leaving the European Union and getting on with it. ... they don't want to re-fight the referendum."</s>Newcastle MP Catherine McKinnell has insisted Labour must offer voters a real choice in a “People’s Vote” on Brexit - including the option of staying in the EU.

She spoke out after Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell rejected activists’ pleas for the party to support a referendum that included stopping Brexit as an option.

Labour’s policy was thrown into confusion when Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer contradicted Mr McDonnell, and insisted Labour had not in fact ruled out a second referendum which could halt Brexit.

Ms McKinnell, Labour MP for Newcastle North, said: “The public are now understandably demanding the right to have a meaningful say on whether we should leave the EU at all.“

Labour delegates at the party conference in Liverpool are to vote on the party’s Brexit policy, after members in 86 constituencies, including some in the North East, submitted motions which specifically call for a referendum on whether to continue with Brexit - or to stay in the EU.

Most of the motions say that Labour should hold a referendum if it forms a government, as well as calling on the Conservative government to back a second poll.

But Mr McDonnell, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s second-in-command, said that Labour would only support a second referendum on Brexit to decide whether the country accepted the Government’s proposed deal with EU countries, or rejected it.

The option of simply cancelling Brexit and staying in the EU would not be included.

Mr McDonnell said: “We will be arguing that it should be a vote on the deal itself.”

He was later overruled by Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir, who insisted the option of holding a referendum about remaining in the EU was still on the table.

He said: “We weren’t ruling out options and nobody was ruling out remain.”

Ms McKinnell said it wasn’t good enough to offer a choice between rejecting or accepting the Government’s Brexit deal if it didn’t include the option of cancelling Brexit.

She said: “Over a hundred motions were submitted to Labour Conference, thousands have marched on the streets, and millions more have called for a Peoples Vote.

“Labour members support a People’s Vote by almost nine to one. 90% of Labour members want to stay in the EU. The leadership of the Labour Party must continue to listen to them.

“But what we cannot have is a Hobson’s choice referendum, with only Jacob Rees-Mogg’s no deal or Theresa May’s botched up bad deal on the ballot paper.”

A motion calling on Labour to make “a manifesto commitment to call a public vote on the deal with an option to remain in the EU” was backed by Bishop Auckland Constituency Labour Party (CLP) and North West Durham CLP.

Newcastle Central CLP called on the party to “campaign for a public vote on an unsatisfactory, or ‘no deal’ Brexit, including the option of remaining in the EU”.

The Newcastle Central motion continued: “Failing this, call for a general election with a manifesto commitment to call for a public vote on the deal with an option to remain in the EU.”

Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson had urged the party to accept the views of members.</s>What is Labour’s Brexit policy now?

The nub of the party’s conference motion, thrashed out over five gruelling hours late on Sunday, is that if Theresa May’s Brexit deal is rejected (assuming she gets one at all), Labour will seek a general election – but failing that, a referendum should not be ruled out.

“If we cannot get a general election, Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote,” the final draft said. A different version, calling for a “vote on the deal”, was explicitly rejected.

That’s why the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, has repeatedly said, including in his conference speech, “nobody is ruling out remain as an option” – a phrase advisers said was “ad-libbed”.

Members are overwhelmingly pro-remain. Why doesn’t the party just call for Brexit to be stopped?

As a slew of senior figures, including John McDonnell, have said in Liverpool this week, the party is concerned that seeking to overturn the referendum would make Labour vulnerable in leave-voting seats in the party’s traditional heartlands.

That’s why the shadow chancellor and the Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, have suggested remain should not be an option on the ballot paper in any referendum. McCluskey’s deputy, Steve Turner, underlined that view on Tuesday.

MPs from leave-supporting seats have been sharing their stories on the conference sidelines about voters who tell them they would feel betrayed or ignored if Labour appeared to be rejecting the 2016 referendum result.

However, plenty of other MPs and members believe Brexit will be bad for jobs and living standards, and it is the party’s duty to oppose it.

Can the party now unite behind this motion?

Probably not for long. While the leadership was relieved to channel what looked in advance like an almighty bust-up into a carefully drafted conference motion, the profound tensions that underlie Labour’s position remain.

Some MPs will continue to push hard for a clearer commitment to a people’s vote, while others feel Labour has already moved too close to looking anti-Brexit.

Will it make any difference to the Conservatives’ policy?

It’s unlikely. Starmer published a document on Tuesday making clear that Labour believes the government’s Chequers position would not meet his six tests for assessing the deal. However, the Tories already knew their red lines made it all but impossible to reach an agreement that could be supported by the Labour leadership.

However, Labour’s shift does change the political backdrop to the negotiations.

Starmer had barely sat down before Tory central office began tweeting that he had “confirmed Labour want to rerun the EU referendum”.

The Tory MP Mark Francois, of the pro-Brexit European Research Group, insisted that he and his colleagues would vote against a deal based on Chequers, whatever Starmer and his colleagues did.

But Downing Street will hope the clearer Labour stance on a fresh referendum helps to clarify the choice faced by hardline leavers in parliament: Brexit on May’s terms, or a genuine risk of no Brexit at all.</s>Britain's main opposition party took a step at its annual conference toward backing a new referendum on Brexit — but stopped short of saying the vote should include an option not to leave the European Union at all.

Delegates at the conference in the northwestern English city of Liverpool will debate a motion Tuesday saying that if Parliament rejects the government's Brexit deal, "Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote."

The motion, whose wording was hammered out at a five-hour meeting on Sunday, does not specify that a new referendum should include an option to remain in the EU, as many party members want.

Most of the party's half-million members voted in 2016 to remain in the EU. But many of its 257 lawmakers represent areas that supported leaving, so Brexit poses an electoral dilemma for the left-of-center party.

With the U.K. and the EU now at an impasse in divorce talks, and just six months to go until Britain officially leaves, many Labour members think the party should try to force a new referendum that could reverse Britain's decision to quit the 28-nation bloc.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other party chiefs oppose that idea, saying Labour must honor voters' 2016 decision to leave. They say a better option would be a general election and a Labour government.

Labour finance spokesman John McDonnell said Monday that "we argued for 'remain' in the past but we lost that vote so we have to respect that."

But Labour lawmaker David Lammy, who backs a second vote, said a referendum offering the choice between "no deal or a bad deal" would be "farcical."

"It absolutely must include the right to stay in the EU," he said.

Labour is meeting after a rocky week for divorce negotiations between Britain and the EU.

The Conservative government's blueprint for future trade ties with the bloc was rejected last week by EU leaders at a summit in Salzburg, Austria. That left Prime Minister Theresa May's leadership under siege and Britain at growing risk of crashing out of the EU on March 29 with no deal in place.

May insists her plan is still on the table. It seeks to keep the U.K. in the EU single market for goods but not for services, in order to ensure free trade with the bloc and an open border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

But EU officials say that amounts to unacceptable "cherry-picking" of elements of membership in the bloc without accepting all the costs and responsibilities.

May is holding a meeting Monday of her divided Cabinet, where some Brexit-supporting ministers will urge her to seek a looser relationship based on a bare-bones free trade agreement that would leave Britain free to strike new deals around the world.</s>The Labour leadership sought on Monday to play down divisions over a second Brexit referendum after shadow chancellor John McDonnell suggested that the option of remaining in the EU would not be on the ballot.

Delegates at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool will vote on Tuesday on a lengthy, composite motion on Brexit that says that, if parliament rejects Theresa May’s Brexit deal, Labour will seek a general election. But if it cannot force an election, the party “must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote”.

Campaigners for a second referendum on Brexit have argued that voters should have the option of remaining in the EU rather than leaving on bad terms or with no deal. But Mr McDonnell said on Monday that the referendum should be on the Brexit deal the prime minister brings back.

“If we are going to respect the last referendum, it will be about the deal; it will be a negotiation on the deal,” he told the BBC.

“Parliament will determine the nature of the question that will be put, but the first stage of that is to see if we can get a deal that is acceptable and brings the country together again. And I’ve always thought we could.”

But the party’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said that at a five-hour meeting on Sunday night to agree the wording of the Brexit motion, it was clear that remaining in the EU had to be an option.

“The meeting last night was very clear that the question of a public vote should be open. We weren’t ruling out options and nobody was ruling out Remain,” he said.

Pro-European MPs complained that the motion had been watered down to allow for a referendum only if Labour was unable to trigger a general election. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, only a specific no-confidence motion or a two-thirds majority in the House of Commons can authorise an election.

Tottenham MP David Lammy, who is campaigning for a referendum on the final Brexit deal, said it would be farcical to have a vote without the option of remaining in the EU.

“A people’s vote is the only realistic option to save this country from the car crash of Brexit. No Tory or DUP MP is likely to vote for a general election. Turkeys do not tend to vote for Christmas,” he said.

“We’ve now got to turn up the noise until we secure a public vote which gives us the option to remain in the UK.”

The motion delegates will debate on Tuesday commits Labour to rejecting any Brexit deal that fails to guarantee that the Border will remain open.

“Conference resolves to reaffirm the Labour Party’s commitment to the Good Friday agreement of 1998 including no hard border in Ireland. Conference believes that there is no satisfactory technological solution that is compliant with the Good Friday agreement and resolves to oppose any Brexit deal that would see the restoration of a border on the island of Ireland in any form for goods, services or people,” the motion says.

Brendan Howlin, who is attending the conference as leader of the Irish Labour Party, said on Monday that there was no good Brexit option for Ireland.

“Obviously, the best outcome for Ireland would be one where there is a second referendum, in which the British people have the opportunity to democratically decide, based on new information, about the different options for the UK’s relationship with the European Union. Ireland would warmly welcome an outcome where the British people decided to remain in the EU,” he said.</s>LONDON — Britain's main opposition party took a step at its annual conference toward backing a new referendum on Brexit — but stopped short of saying the vote should include an option not to leave the European Union at all.

Delegates at the Labour Party conference in the northwestern English city of Liverpool will debate a motion Tuesday saying that if Parliament rejects the government's Brexit deal, "Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote."

The motion, whose wording was argued over during a five-hour meeting late Sunday, does not specify that a new referendum should include an option to remain in the EU, as many party members want.

Most of the party's half-million members voted in 2016 to remain in the EU. But many of its 257 lawmakers represent areas that supported leaving, so Brexit poses an electoral dilemma for the left-of-center party.

With the U.K. and the EU now at an impasse in divorce talks, and just six months to go until Britain officially leaves on March 29, many Labour members think the party should try to force a new referendum that could reverse Britain's decision to quit the 28-nation bloc.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other party chiefs oppose that idea, saying Labour must honor voters' 2016 decision to leave. They say a better option would be a general election and a Labour government.

Party finance spokesman John McDonnell said Monday that "we argued for 'remain' in the past but we lost that vote so we have to respect that."

But Labour lawmaker David Lammy, who backs a second vote, said a referendum offering the choice between "no deal or a bad deal" would be "farcical."

"It absolutely must include the right to stay in the EU," he said.

Labour is meeting after a rocky week for divorce negotiations between Britain and the EU.

The Conservative government's blueprint for future trade ties with the bloc was rejected last week by EU leaders at a summit in Salzburg, Austria. That left Prime Minister Theresa May's leadership under siege and Britain at growing risk of crashing out of the EU with no deal in place.

May insists her plan is still on the table. It seeks to keep the U.K. in the EU single market for goods but not for services, in order to ensure free trade with the bloc and an open border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

But EU officials say that amounts to unacceptable "cherry-picking" of elements of membership in the bloc without accepting all the costs and responsibilities.

May met Monday with her divided Cabinet, where some Brexit-supporting ministers are urging her to seek a looser relationship based on a bare-bones free trade agreement that would leave Britain free to strike new deals around the world.

Pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said Britain would prosper under a "Canada Plus" deal — a variation on the free trade agreement struck between Canada and the EU after years of negotiations.

May's says a "Canada-style" deal would not prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Amid mounting uncertainty, the British government has stepped up preparations for leaving without an agreement — though it insists that outcome is unlikely.

On Monday, it published a new batch of documents outlining some disruptions to Britain's economy and daily life that could be caused by a "no deal" Brexit.

The group of "technical notices" to businesses said British digital subscribers could be unable to access services such as Netflix when they travel in Europe, truckers could need special permits to transport goods to the EU, and planes between Britain and the continent could be grounded if there is no Brexit agreement.

The papers noted that airlines "would lose the automatic right to operate air services between the U.K. and the EU without seeking advance permission."

"In this scenario the U.K. would envisage granting permission to EU airlines to continue to operate. We would expect EU countries to reciprocate in turn," the document said.

Previous batches of papers said businesses could face red tape, customers could see higher credit card fees and patients could endure delays to medical treatment.

They even said Britain could get less warning of falling space debris from an EU agency if Britain crashes out of the bloc without a deal.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Labour is preparing to vote down Theresa May’s EU withdrawal deal in Parliament, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed.

The move leaves the Prime Minister brutally exposed to a rebellion by restive Tory backbenchers, with fewer than a dozen able to fracture her fragile control of the Commons in the upcoming vote.

Addressing Labour’s conference in Liverpool, Sir Keir will warn that Tory “division, chaos and failure” over Brexit is putting the country’s future prosperity at risk.

“The party that once promised to fix the roof while the sun was shining now seems intent on burning the whole house down,” he will say.

His warning comes as Labour delegates at a gathering which has been dominated by wrangling over Brexit prepare to vote on a compromise motion to keep the option of a second EU referendum “on the table”.

Campaigners for a so-called People’s Vote – who staged a march in Liverpool on the conference’s opening day – have welcomed the motion, which states that if Labour cannot force an early general election it will “support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote”.

But they voiced concern after shadow chancellor John McDonnell indicated that the leadership envisage any vote would be on the terms of a Brexit deal, with no option to remain in the EU.

With a Commons vote expected in the next few months, Sir Keir is set to say that Labour will oppose any deal which fails the party’s six tests, including delivering the “exact same benefits” of single market and customs union membership.

While stopping short of an absolute commitment to vote down Mrs May’s plans, he will tell delegates that it is highly unlikely any deal based on her Chequers blueprint could meet Labour’s tests.

And he will pledge not to back a “blind Brexit”, under which MPs would be asked to approve the £40 billion withdrawal agreement without being given a clear outline of future relations with Europe.

Sir Keir is expected to say: “Just when we need a strong government, what do we see from the Tories? Division, chaos and failure.

“No credible plan for Brexit. No solution to prevent a hard border in Ireland. And no majority in Parliament for the Chequers proposals.

“A Tory civil war that has gone on for years now threatens our future prosperity.”

And he will issue a message to Mrs May: “If your party wants to tear itself apart, that’s fine, but you’re not taking our country with you.”

Setting out Labour’s approach to the upcoming Commons vote, Sir Keir said: “If Theresa May brings back a deal that fails our tests – and that looks increasingly likely – Labour will vote against it. No ifs, no buts.

“And if the Prime Minister thinks we’ll wave through a vague deal asking us to jump blindfolded into the unknown she can think again.

“You can’t meet Labour’s tests by failing to provide answers. We will vote down a blind Brexit.

“Let me be clear: this isn’t about frustrating the process. It’s about stopping a destructive Tory Brexit. It’s about fighting for our values. And about fighting for our country.”

Sir Keir released an analysis of the Brexit blueprint agreed by the Cabinet at Mrs May’s country residence, which he said showed it failed to pass Labour’s six tests.

The tests demand: a “strong and collaborative” future relationship with the EU; the “exact same benefits” as single market and customs union membership; fair management of migration; defence of rights and protections; protection for national security; and delivering for all regions and nations of the UK.

Brexit minister Robin Walker said: “Labour seem determined to take us all back to square one by rejecting a deal out of hand then trying to delay Brexit and re-run the referendum.

“Labour promised to respect the referendum result, but are just playing political games and trying to frustrate it.

“This Conservative government is negotiating the right deal for the UK, one that promotes jobs and protects security and the precious Union between the four nations of the UK.”
The Labour Party plans to reject UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Chequers Agreement and is open to a new Brexit referendum.