‘Labour must speed up backing UK staying in EU’

Bloomberg

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn should move more quickly to make remaining in the European Union the party’s official position before a possible general election, Labour’s treasury spokesman John McDonnell said.
While Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, has for months been calling for the party to adopt the policy, or seek a second referendum, Corbyn has so-far refused to commit. Instead he favours pushing for an election and is seeking consensus from his party rank and file on Brexit ahead of the annual conference in late September. McDonnell wants to quickly implement a policy to distance Labour from the Conservatives, who are pushing to leave.
With Conservative leadership front-runner Boris Johnson refusing to rule out leaving the EU without a deal and some members of Parliament vowing to stop him, there’s a rising possibility of nationwide elections in September or October to break the deadlock. Labour’s support base isn’t united on whether to leave
or remain.
“We haven’t been able to get the deal we wanted so I would vote remain, I would want to campaign for remain,” McDonnell told BBC TV. “We need to decide early and get on with it.”