Leader Len McCluskey says union will back MPs – even on the right – who face deselection

Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, has suggested that his union will protect any Labour MP who votes for a new Brexit deal if they face deselection by party members – even MPs on the party’s right.

The remarks from the trade union boss come ahead of a key speech by Jeremy Corbyn in Salford in which the Labour leader will appeal to leave voters, saying efforts to stop no deal were about confronting those “hijacking the referendum result”.