Corbyn’s Brexit stance backed at Labour conference

Jeremy Corbyn survived a Labour revolt over Brexit as the party’s conference backed his policy of remaining neutral until after a general election.

The Labour leader has promised that a government he leads will negotiate a new Brexit deal and put it to a referendum but he has resisted calls to say how the party should campaign in that public vote.

Delegates at the conference in Brighton backed a statement setting out his position and broke out into a chorus of “oh, Jeremy Corbyn” after the result of the vote was announced.

In chaotic scenes, the conference then rejected a motion which would have called on Labour to come out in support of Remain now rather than waiting until after an election.

The result is a boost for Mr Corbyn, who has argued that Labour should go into the expected general election without making a decision on how it should campaign on the referendum his party has promised within six months of taking office.

A decision on how the party would campaign in the referendum would be taken at a subsequent special conference.

The vote came after shadow cabinet ministers Emily Thornberry and Sir Keir Starmer both used their keynote conference speeches to say they would back Remain.