Robert Peston Robert Peston

How Labour could solve its Brexit conundrum

Sources close to the Labour leader believe the emergency NEC meeting on Tuesday, which determines the Labour manifesto for the EU elections, will agree a formula that is “a restatement” of the party’s equivocal and prolix party conference resolution of last September.

But a senior trade union source tells me that if Unison, GMB and Usdaw are bulldozed on Tuesday, if their demand for Labour to commit to a “confirmatory” referendum on any Brexit deal is simply ignored, Corbyn and his colleagues are “being delusional about the likely consequences”.

The well-placed trade unionist added: “They have no idea what’s going to hit them and the scale of the backlash they will face” – which captures for you how emotions are running very high.

And given that Unison, the GMB and Usdaw are respectively the first, third and fourth biggest trade unions in the UK, they can certainly cause trouble for Corbyn, if so minded.

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