Labour government should delay Brexit by extending the Article 50 period, says Emily Thornberry

'We cannot obviously leave in current circumstances, we need to extend Article 50... I don’t know how long that would take'

Emily Thornberry says Labour should seek to delay Brexit by extending the Article 50 period, if it wins power in a snap general election.

The shadow foreign secretary insisted the UK could not leave the EU “in current circumstances”, as she set out what the party’s election strategy would be.

“In our manifesto we should say we will abide by the result of the referendum, we cannot obviously leave in current circumstances, we need to extend Article 50 and – let me pre-empt your next question – I don’t know how long that would take,” she told a conference fringe meeting.

Labour would then restart the negotiations by going to Brussels and saying “the grown ups have turned up now, let’s sit down and talk”.

The comments make Ms Thornberry the first Labour frontbencher to acknowledge that – should Labour succeed in forcing an election – the clock would have to be stopped on Brexit.

It is believed the EU would probably agree to an application to extend Article 50, to allow a new government to put forward its exit proposals, but it would require the agreement of all 27 other EU countries.

The development came after Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, won a huge ovation from the conference for insisting Labour was not “ruling out” an option to Remain on the ballot paper of any fresh referendum.

The sentence, which was not signed off by Mr Corbyn’s office, opened up fresh divisions at the Liverpool conference, where John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, had appeared to rule out that option.

The standing ovation for Sir Keir suggested that the opinion polls – showing overwhelming support among Labour members for a people's vote and the chance to vote Remain – are correct.

Later, the conference passed a motion to keep open the option of another referendum, reading: “If we cannot get a general election, Labour must support all options on the table, including campaigning for a public vote.”

At the fringe meeting, Ms Thornberry defended Jeremy Corbyn’s strategy of pressing for a general election, rather than a fresh referendum on Brexit, insisting that was the best way to “inject democracy” into the controversy.

And she said: “I think there’s going to be a general election and I think we are going to win.”

The shadow foreign secretary also cast huge doubt on whether a further referendum offering the public the chance to stay in the EU would produce a different result.

Voters were “dug in” to their positions in the 2016 referendum, rather than switching to the Remain cause – as might be expected with the government’s strategy floundering.

And, controversially, she blamed hardcore Remainers for that deadlock, by giving the impression that people voted Leave because they “are stupid, because they are racist, because they have been lied to, because they have been manipulated”.

Asked if she believed Sir Keir was “wrong”, Ms Thornberry replied “no”, but added: “We are not to be distracted from having a general election into some segue, into a people’s vote.

“I think there should be a general election – I think that’s the best people’s vote that you can have.”

Arguing there was no public shift towards wanting to reverse the Brexit result, she said: “It is not that people have said it but, in the debate about Europe, it’s what people hear.

“And I think people have been hearing the Remainers saying we are only leaving the European Union because the public are stupid, because they are racist, because they have been lied to, because they have been manipulated.

“They think ‘you’re talking about me, I’m none of those things, I want to leave the European Union because I want to leave the European Union, get on with it.’”