The party wants a general election before we leave the EU.
What it means: The UK Labour Party is currently holding its yearly conference where it discusses what its future plans and policies should be. Unsurprisingly, there’s been a lot of chatter about Brexit, and specifically what the Labour Party should do if Theresa May screws it up and Parliament rejects her Brexit deal.
Although MPs won the right in June to vote on whether they approve of May’s Brexit deal before we leave the EU, nobody has yet made a decision about what will actually happen if they vote against it. Labour is now saying it should trigger a general election. Labour figures that if it wins that, they can then go back to the EU and negotiate their own, better Brexit deal.
One problem with this is that Labour voters do not agree with each other about Brexit (including whether it should happen at all). Many people may also feel angry if they don’t get a direct ‘people’s vote’ (i.e. a second referendum) on what sort of Brexit we should have.
Labour says that it might back a people’s vote if its general election idea falls through. It needs a majority of MPs to vote for an election for one to happen, which will be tricky considering the Tories, who make up 49 percent of MPs, aren’t keen.
