British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn won support for his Brexit strategy on Monday, fighting off a challenge by members who wanted him to immediately back remaining in the European Union before any election, Euronews reports.
The vote at his party's annual conference in the English seaside resort of Brighton was the latest outburst of dissent over Corbyn's Brexit approach.
But members fell into line and backed Corbyn's stance to first try to win an election, renegotiate the Brexit deal and then hold a special conference to decide the party's stance - either to leave with a deal or remain - in a second referendum.
Corbyn, an instinctive leftist critic of the EU, has been under renewed pressure from party members and even some of his top team to unequivocally endorse remaining in the EU, and their rebellion had forced a vote between the two options.
"I want to recognize that there are people in Britain who have voted leave, and remain, but nevertheless all suffer the same problems of economic austerity and falling of living standards because of this government," Corbyn told CNN.
Corbyn declined to say whether he was in favor of remaining in the union, but made it clear he wants to avoid crashing out of the bloc without a deal -- an option that economists, the Bank of England and even the government itself said would damage the UK economy.
"My proposal is that a Labour government would, once we've got no deal completely off the table, would then discuss with the EU what a leave option would be ... and put it alongside an offer to remain in the European Union and seek to reform it as well," he said.