LABOUR delegates overwhelmingly backed a motion at their party conference offering a people’s vote on Brexit.

But despite hours of debate there was still confusion over what exactly the wording of the motion committed the party to.

During his speech, in remarks that were seemingly ad-libbed, Labour’s shadow Brexit minister Keir Starmer told activists that “nobody” was “ruling out Remain as an option” in a second referendum.

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The comment saw around two-thirds of the delegates in the hall jump to their feet in a sustained standing ovation.

But moments later he was rebuked by a senior figure from Unite.

The trade union’s assistant general secretary Steve Turner said that Brexit could not be stopped: “Despite what Keir said earlier, it’s a public vote on the terms of our departure,” he said.

“We desperately need a better, fairer society. We need to heal the wounds of Brexit, not reopen them,” he said.

That was closer in line to what John McDonnell had said the day before.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard sided with the shadow chancellor . He told ITV Border: “I think that the decision that was taken in 2016 was a vote on the principle and the vote on the principle was, against my better judgement, that we should leave the European Union. So I think that to try revisit that same decision just wouldn’t sit right.”

But Welsh Labour leader Carwyn Jones disagreed: “If there’s no deal on the table, well, surely people have the right to express a view as to whether they wish to leave in circumstances that not one Brexiteer suggested would happen.

“Nobody said two years ago, ‘If there’s no deal, it doesn’t matter.’ No-one said it.

"Everyone said, ‘There will be a deal.’ That’s changed.”

Jeremy Corbyn, giving a number of interviews ahead of his keynote conference speech, refused to say how he would vote in a second Brexit referendum.

He told Sky News: “Well we don’t know what the question is going to be in the referendum so that is a hypothetical question. I can’t answer that question because we don’t know what the question is going to be.”

When Channel 4 News asked if he would rule out voting Remain, he replied: “We will decide what our position is. I am the leader of the party and I will respect the decision of the party.”

The row came as Brexiteer Tories in the right-wing European Research Group (ERG) gave the Prime Minister notice that they will be voting against any final deal based on the Chequers plan.

Labour have also said they will vote against May’s deal, which given the Tory’s precarious majority could see her defeated in the Commons.

Speaking to the BBC, Corbyn predicted the Government would lose the vote, “collapse itself” and cause a General Election. “We will force a deal that protects jobs,” he said.

May told journalists that a no-deal Brexit would be better for the UK than any Canada-style free trade agreement. “First of all, I’ve always said no deal is better than a bad deal. I think a bad deal will be a deal, for example, that broke up the United Kingdom. We want to maintain the unity of the United Kingdom.

“What we’ve put on the table is a good deal. It’s a deal that retains the unity of the United Kingdom, our constitutional integrity. It’s a deal which provides for no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, protects jobs and enables us to have a good trade relationship with Europe and good trade relationships with the rest of the world.”