UK Labour position

The party conference season is in full swing and this week is the turn of the Labour party, an opportunity to showcase policies.

It actually started last Friday with the announcement that the position of Deputy Leader was being abolished! As it happened Tom Watson managed to keep his elected position, however it was obviously the start of movement to cement Jeremy Corbyn's position this week.  Remember as the unions hold 50% of all votes, it only really matters what they vote for.

Of course, the big row at this conference was supposed to be on Brexit, and there's plenty of potential for things to really kick off tonight and tomorrow, when the party will vote on what its position should be. Members were last evening locked in a private room doing 'compositing', which is one of those words you will only ever need to use if you find yourself attending a Labour conference. Just one extra vowel away from composting, which is one of those activities you would probably rather spend your Sunday doing, this verb entails people sifting through all the motions and amendments submitted by local parties and coming up with a motion that conference can then vote on. But expectations are that the meeting will not be successful in reaching a compromise.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr McDonnell said he would support Remain in any future vote as he thought it was the "best option", but he believed other members should be allowed to "exercise their own judgement". He added: "This is an honest, democratic debate and that is what our party is about - making sure that people can express their views democratically and be honest about their assessments. "People have high emotions on this because they feel it is important, but people are respecting each others views as well. "Do not mistake democracy for division. It isn't. What we are seeing is an honest debate."

John McDonnell also summed up the debate that will take place, unfortunately it still sounds as though Labour want to place a question before people in a referendum that sounds like A) a new deal from the EU or B) remain, however the new deal from the EU would be remarkably similar to staying in that the paper might as well say A) remain or B) remain.

Tomorrow at Labour conference
08:30: Policy Seminars
09:45: Morning Plenary Session: New Economy John McDonnell's Speech
12:35: Votes
12:45: Break
14:00: Afternoon Plenary Session: New Internationalism
16:20: Votes