Britain's main opposition Labour Party says it will reject Prime Minister Theresa May's proposed Brexit deal with the European Union when it comes to a vote in parliament.
If Britain and the EU agree on a deal, it must be approved by individual nations before Britain leaves. In the UK that means a vote by lawmakers, and the maths looks ominous for May's government, which lacks an overall majority.
Labour Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said the party would reject a deal along the lines May is proposing because it does not meet "six tests" it has set, including protecting workers' rights and retaining access to European markets.
Starmer said May's negotiations with the bloc were "chaotic and failing".
"We cannot carry on with this idea that the prime minister can bring back any deal that she cobbles together and we must all vote for it however awful it is, because something even worse will happen if we don't," Starmer told the BBC.
Starmer said that if parliament rejected the deal there should be a new election, though it's unclear where that would leave the Brexit negotiations.
With Britain due to leave the EU in six months, on March 29, and negotiations at an impasse, Labour leaders are under pressure from members to back a new referendum on Britain's EU membership.
Delegates at Labour's annual conference are expected to back a motion on Tuesday leaving that option open, but not calling for it directly.
EU leaders rejected the Conservative government's blueprint for future trade ties at a fractious summit in the Austrian city of Salzburg last week.
It seeks to keep the UK in the EU single market for goods but not for services, in order to ensure free trade with the bloc and an open border between the UK's Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
But EU officials say that amounts to unacceptable "cherry-picking" of elements of membership in the bloc without accepting all the costs and responsibilities.
The Salzburg rebuff left May under siege from Brexit-supporting Conservatives, who want her to seek a looser relationship based on a bare-bones free trade agreement that would leave Britain free to strike new deals around the world.
May is sticking by her plan. After a meeting of the divided Cabinet on Monday, May's Downing St. office said hers is "the only plan on the table ... and she remains confident of securing a deal with the EU."
Australian Associated Press
