Labour conference - LIVE: Corbyn tells Theresa May his MPs will vote with government if she secures soft Brexit deal
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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."
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"Theresa May used to say that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’. Yet now, after two years of botched negotiations she is threatening the country with just that choice: a bad deal or no deal. That is a threat to our whole economy, especially our manufacturing industry and to tens of thousands of skilled jobs here in Britain.
"Now time is running out. Companies are losing patience. In the absence of any clarity from government they are planning to relocate abroad, taking jobs and investment with them. Some have already started and I fear more will follow.
"The Tories are well aware of this but some see Brexit as their opportunity to impose a free market shock doctrine in Britain.
"The Prime Minister is in New York today promising that a post-Brexit Britain will offer the lowest corporation tax of all the G20 nations. Handouts to the few, paid for by the many and an already tried-and-failed strategy for boosting investment.
"Sajid Javid has set out his plan for more tax giveaways and to rip up people’s pension rights.
"Liam Fox is itching to scrap workers’ rights and privatise the NHS with a side order of chlorinated chicken.
"And then there’s Jacob Rees-Mogg who has expressed his personal faith in a Brexit Britain by deciding to base his new investment fund in the Eurozone."
On his party's Brexit policy, Corbyn says:
"So let me say to the country. As it stands, Labour will vote against the Chequers plan or whatever is left of it and oppose leaving the EU with no deal.
And it is inconceivable that we should crash out of Europe with no deal - that would be a national disaster.
That is why if Parliament votes down a Tory deal or the government fails to reach any deal at all we would press for a General Election. Failing that, all options are on the table."
He finishes his speech with this: "And we must take our message to every town, city and village. United and ready to win, ready to govern as we were in 1945, 1964 and 1997.
"So that when we meet this time next year let it be as a Labour government. Investing in Britain after years of austerity and neglect and bringing our country together after a decade of division.
"Conference. Let every constituency, every community know Labour is ready. Confident in our ideas, clear in our plans, committed to rebuild Britain.
"We don’t want to live in a society where our fellow citizens sleep rough. A strong society is one that gives all our young people the chance to realise their potential and in which all of us know if our parents need care they will get it.
"Our task is to build that Britain and together we can."
Jeremy Corbyn's speech to Labour's annual conference was littered with new policy announcements - all announced in the last few days - including plans to to stop the "agonising death" of the high street, free childcare, and workers on boards. It is quite clear the party has been significantly building on the 2017 manifesto and its programme for the next election, whenever that may be.
Responding to the speech, Ian Blackford, the SNP MP, said “Labour have proven they have nothing to offer Scotland but economic chaos and incompetence – failing to provide any meaningful alternative to the Tories.
“Jeremy Corbyn may have been forced into saying he would not accept a no-deal Brexit – but he remains committed, like the Tories, to taking Scotland out of the EU against our will.
“That reckless plan to drag Scotland off a hard Brexit cliff edge, outside the single market and customs union, would deal a huge body blow to the Scottish economy – destroying jobs, and causing lasting harm to the incomes and living standards of millions of people.
“While Labour have pinched policies wholesale from the SNP government, they have forgotten about how they would afford them – with a self-inflicted multi-billion pound Brexit black hole making a mockery of their spending plans.
"Labour were the architects of a decade of failed austerity cuts, and their hard Brexit plans now threaten to leave the whole country poorer and worse off for decades to come.
“After a bitterly divided conference, dominated by rows over Brexit, racism, and sectarianism, Labour have shown they aren’t even fit for opposition let alone government.
“By threatening to block Scotland’s democratic right to hold a future independence referendum, Labour are demonstrating the same old arrogant and ignorant approach that has alienated their traditional supporters and will see them decline further into irrelevance."
Speaking after Corbyn's address, John McDonnell tells the BBC he "wouldn't be surprised" if Labour was in government this time next year, predicting that the Conservatives will "implode" over Brexit.
He said: "The Tories hate each other more than they hate us at the moment, so they might well fall apart. We've got to take that opportunity."
"As soon as we get into those negotiations, the atmosphere will change dramatically. We've always worked on the basics of constructive engagement, mutual respect and mutual interest. The Tories should move to one side and give us a try."
Best for Britain chief Eloise Todd said: “Jeremy Corbyn has thrown down the gauntlet to the Tories by challenging them to meet Keir Starmer's six tests, but it's clear that this government can't do that. The extreme Brexiteers in the Tory party certainly can't.
"No form of Brexit can deliver the six tests or what Labour wants - the current deadlock in Parliament and in negotiations with the EU show that.
"Only our current deal with the EU can meet those tests. That's why the only way out of this mess is to call a people's vote with the option to stay. Then the public can compare our current bespoke deal with whatever this government cobbles together."
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