If MPs vote against the Brexit deal, leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn said he would call a motion of no confidence in the government "at the moment we judge it to have the best chance of success."
Delivering a speech on Brexit in Wakefield, in the north of England, the Labour Party leader also said it is "a possibility" that the Article 50 negotiating period would need to be extended.
The government is widely expected to lose a ratification vote scheduled for next Tuesday evening on the Brexit deal Theresa May negotiated with Brussels. But answering questions from journalists after the speech, Corbyn declined to say whether he would call a confidence vote immediately after such a rejection of the deal by MPs.
"We will move a motion of no confidence in the government at a time of our choosing when we judge there would be the best chance of success," he said when pressed on whether he would trigger a vote immediately.
Corbyn also reiterated his party's policy that there should be a general election. "This political chaos cannot go on. The only way out of it is a general election," he said, adding Labour's Brexit policy in its manifesto would be a matter for the democratic structures of the party.
He said that if Labour won, he would reopen negotiations with Brussels.
"Our policy would be to negotiate urgently with the EU as and when we take office" to secure a customs union with a U.K. say over EU trade deals and protections for workers' rights and environmental standards, he said. He added that it might be necessary for the Brexit date of March 29 to be delayed because "clearly there has to be time to negotiate," he said.
On the question of whether Labour would back a second referendum, as a majority of its members want, Corbyn stuck steadfastly to the policy agreed at the party's annual conference last year.
"If a general election cannot be secured, and we’ll try, then we’ll keep all options on the table, including the option of campaigning for a public vote," he said.
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