THE Communist Party called for the trade union and labour movement to mobilise to defeat Theresa May's bogus Brexit deal at the weekend.

Delegates to the party's 55th Congress heard that the agreement unveiled by the Prime Minister and the EU on November 14 would maintain all current EU legislation until 2021.

That would risk tying an incoming Labour government's hands, exposing its agenda of widespread nationalisation, ethical public procurement policies and a revival of British manufacturing to attack under the strict restrictions on competition and state aid imposed by articles 101 to 109 of the Lisbon Treaty.

An emergency resolution submitted by the party's Oxford branch said the agreement would "prevent our country from adopting any radical programme that would reassert workers' rights, require firms to adopt mandatory sectoral collective bargaining and enable industrial regeneration through state aid and the comprehensive public ownership of utilities.

"It is a charter for big business, as set out by the government's business advisory council, and principally designed to protect financial services" at the expense of other sectors of Britain's economy.

The congress rejected arguments that the agreement should be accepted as preferential to bids by Labour's right wing, the Liberal Democrats, Scottish and Welsh nationalists and the Greens to reverse the electorate's 2016 decision to leave the EU, with mover Dave Stavris arguing that it would preserve all the worst aspects of EU membership.

And London district's Alex Gordon quoted the Morning Star to the effect that, rather than Ms May's deal being described as "Brexit in name only" it should be labelled Leave in Name Only — "if you're lino they'll walk all over you."

But the party vowed to oppose both the deal and undemocratic efforts to keep Britain in the EU, saying that the left should fight for a general election to return a left-led Labour government that "meets the needs of working people and frees us to initiate international relations based on co-operation and peaceful development."

Party members would work to build a mass campaign for a People's Brexit and congress called for a big turnout for People's Brexit launch meetings in London and Halifax this Thursday.