UK's labour opposition to vote against Brexit deal

LIVERPOOL: The main British opposition Labour Party says it will vote against any deal Prime Minister Theresa May proposes with European Union (EU) when it will come to a vote in parliament.

If EU and Britain agree on a deal, it must be approved by individual nations before Britain leaves. In the U.K. that means a vote by lawmakers, and the math looks ominous for May's minority government.

Labour Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer says the party will reject a deal along the lines May is proposing because it does not meet "six tests," including protecting workers' rights and retaining access to European markets.

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

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

"If parliament rejected 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," he repeated Labour’s argument.

“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 standing ovation and prolonged applause in a packed conference hall.

The Conservative Party’s chairman, Brandon Lewis, accused Labour of breaking “their promises” and taking “us back to square one on Brexit”.

But with May’s plan for maintaining close ties with the EU for trade in goods facing opposition from her own lawmakers, Labour could play a decisive role in whether any Brexit deal is approved by 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.