The political landscape in the United Kingdom is undergoing some major shifts… As the country is holding its breath before Brexit takes effect next March, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Party made a historical speech at the Labour Conference.
While Jeremy Corbyn reaffirmed his position of the Party’s leader, some up-and-coming figures were revealed, such as Parliament’s Emily Thornberry. The latter made a very noticed appearance, advocating for the transgender community and more human rights in diplomacy.
Here are the three things we have noticed at the conference – and what we should expect from the Labour Party. 

Labour and Brexit

His speech lasted for more than hour, which was unusually lengthy – but the message was clear from the beginning: Jeremy Corbyn, the three-year leader of the Labour Party, positioned himself against current Prime Minister Theresa May regarding diplomacy and the Brexit.

“If you deliver a deal that includes a customs union and no hard border in Ireland, if you protect jobs, people’s rights at work and environmental and consumer standards, then we will support that sensible deal. A deal that would be backed by most of the business world and trade unions too”, he declared, the Guardian reports.
Corbyn’s strategy was very clear: he wanted to attract the media attention, as experts confirm that he might be very likely to run for Prime Minister. Yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn travelled to Brussels and met with Michel Barnier, the European Union’s Chief negotiator, to speak about Brexit.

Corbyn warms up for the elections

Corbyn said that Barnier seemed interested into speaking with him, in order to get as many agreements as possible with the E.U before March 30th, date to which Brexit will take effect.
However, Corbyn said he would support current British Prime Minister Theresa May if she came to an agreement that would offer the United Kingdom the “exact same benefits” as any other European country.
To many, it seemed that Corbyn was trying to position himself as the pro-European political leader, while preparing his seat for the next general elections in 2022.
Another example of his strategy, was the hosting of LGBTQA community advocate Emily Thornberry, who seemed to be invited to show a new face to the party – months after transphobic and antisemitic behaviors within the party.

An inclusive strategy

“Everyone needs to be more relaxed about transgender people”, declared Emily Thornberry, under a thunder of applause, on stage, at the Labour Conference.
Her sentence was criticizing internal feuds earlier on this year, where anti-transgender activists wanted to exclude transgender women from all-women shortlists row during the Parliament elections a few months ago. “I think it’s desperately sad to see the way it’s become so aggressive, and we need to step down a bit”, Thornberry added, according to Pink News.
In the United Kingdom, more than 130,000 people are registered as transgenders. Not only this represents a new community of potential voters, but it also shows that the society and political parties need to adapt their policies.
At the end of her speech, Emily Thornberry shouted “No Pasaran”, referring to the Spanish civil war chant and vividly criticized the return of racism and fascism in the country – including the Labour’s Party. According to several British specialists, Emily Thornberry is said to be the most likely Corbyn’s successor and has been doing more and more public appearances for the past few weeks.