Jeremy Corbyn will campaign for Brexit if he negotiates a deal that meets the party’s so-called six tests, a Labour candidate has suggested.
The Labour leader has pledged to negotiate a new exit deal with the EU and put it to a referendum within six months of taking office.
He has repeatedly refused to say whether he would campaign to Leave with his deal or for Remain.
But Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who is seeking reelection as the MP for Brighton Kemptown, said the party would base its decision on what deal it secured.
“We will negotiate a deal. If that deal manages to meet our six tests that we laid out at the last election we will of course say to the people, and Jeremy will probably say, that is the one he will go for,” the ardently pro-Remain candidate told BBC Radio 5 Live on Wednesday.
“If it doesn’t manage to meet those tests, it will still be a Leave deal, it won’t be quite as good as the leavers promised, and we will back remaining.”
Russell-Moyle accepted he had potentially revealed Corbyn’s plan “maybe inadvertently”.
“I haven’t confirmed with Jeremy exactly how it would go if it did meet those six tests,” he said. “My assumption is if it meets those six tests he would support it.”
Before any second referendum, Labour Party members will hold a special conference to decide the party’s position.
Labour’s six tests for a Brexit deal
1. Does it ensure a strong and collaborative future relationship with the EU?
2. Does it deliver the “exact same benefits” as we currently have as members of the Single Market and Customs Union?
3. Does it ensure the fair management of migration in the interests of the economy and communities?
4. Does it defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom?
5. Does it protect national security and our capacity to tackle cross-border crime?
6. Does it deliver for all regions and nations of the UK?