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Labour conference - LIVE: Corbyn tells Theresa May his MPs will vote with government if she secures soft Brexit deal

Follow all the latest updates from the Labour Party conference in Liverpool 

Ashley Cowburn
Political Correspondent
Wednesday 26 September 2018 08:39 EDT
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Jeremy Corbyn has told Theresa May that Labour will support her if she abandons her Chequers plan and agrees to a softer Brexit.

He said his party would vote for a "sensible" deal that kept the UK in a customs union with the EU and guaranteed jobs and workers' rights.

The Labour leader also used his keynote speech to the party's annual conference in Liverpool to promise to fight antisemitism "with every breath I possess".

He told the Jewish community: "We are your ally."

Please allow a minute for the liveblog to load.

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 11:19

On the issue of a general strike, the Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns responded:  "So Labour want to stage a general strike to bring down our Government.

"A nationwide workers' walkout will bring the country to a standstill. Labour are using the general public as pawns in their political game-playing. Appalling.

Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis added: "Labour have shown their true colours. A General Strike would cause havoc, hitting workers and families hard and harming our economy and people's livelihoods."

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 11:57

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 12:05

Jeremy Corbyn is about to address the Labour conference in Liverpool - this is from my colleague Ben Kentish, who suggests the party leader will touch on the subject of antisemitism.  

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 12:20

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 12:24

Corbyn comes on the stage, greeting activists and the shadow cabinet to All Together Now, by the Farm.

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 12:30

Corbyn kicks off his speech by thanking the party staff and his wife, Gracias Laurita. 

He says: "This year we mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, which saw eight million women getting the vote for the first time, along with five and a half million working class men.

"We now have more women members of the Labour Party than the entire membership, male and female, of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties put together.

"And we mark that centenary with Jennie Formby as our new General Secretary."

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 12:34

Speaking about the membership of the party, he says the money comes from hundreds of thousands of people across the country. 

"So I don’t have to play tennis with an oligarch to keep our party organisation running. Labour trades in hope for the many, not favours for the few.

"Our mass membership is not just a source of funds of course."

He says not everyone is "entirely happy" about this, adding: "It turns out that the billionaires who own the bulk of the British press don’t like us one little bit. 

"Now it could be because we’re going to clamp down on tax dodging. Or it may be because we don’t fawn over them at white tie dinners and cocktail parties.

"Or it could even be because Tom Watson has been campaigning for the second part of the Leveson media inquiry to be set up - something the last Prime Minister promised, but failed to deliver.

"We must, and we will, protect the freedom of the press to challenge unaccountable power."

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 12:38

On unity in the Labour Party, he says: "If we are to get the chance to put those values into practice in government we are going to need unity to do it.

"Our movement has achieved nothing when divided. The only winners have been the rich and the party of the rich: the Conservatives.

"Real unity is based on the freedom to disagree and debate and then come together around democratic decisions, as we have done this week.

"So we need to foster a much greater culture of tolerance. An end to abuse, online and in person."

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 12:42

"Conference, this summer was tough," he says. 

Corbyn adds the row over antisemitism has caused "immense hurt and anxiety" in the Jewish community and "great dismay" in the Labour Party. 

"But I hope we can work together to draw a line under it.  I say this to all in the Jewish community: 

"This party, this movement, will always be implacable campaigners against antisemitism and racism in all its forms.

"We are your ally.

"We will work with Jewish communities to eradicate antisemitism, both from our party and wider society.

"And with your help I will fight for that with every breath I possess.

"Anti-racism is integral to our very being. It’s part of who you all are, and it’s part of who I am.

In reference to a recent vote in the European Parliament earlier this month, he says:  "So conference, we won’t accept it when we’re attacked by Tory hypocrites who accuse us of antisemitism one day, then endorse Viktor Orban’s hard right government the next. Or when they say we are racist, while they work to create a hostile environment for all migrant communities."

Ashley Cowburn26 September 2018 12:46

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