This article summarises the pledges made by ministers in May's pro=Leave government:
- Delivering the same benefits on trade as currently enjoyed by single market membership.
- Having new trade deals ready to be signed on the day of departure from the EU.
- Investing savings from Brexit in public services, including £350m a week for the NHS.
- No changes to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
- Full protection of rights currently guaranteed by membership of the EU, including on employment and the environment.
- A security deal that “maintains and enhances” such cooperation with the EU.
- The integrity of the UK protected.
- A strengthening of science and research partnerships with the EU.
- Full exit, including ratification of a new deal, in 2019.
- A dramatic reduction in net migration while “keeping the UK open to the talent and skills that UK business need”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...ent-to-account
Labour's six tests does nothing more or less than summarise these with the intention of holding the government to account for their promises. That's why they created them. The aim of this is to pressure the Government to achieve a Brexit deal that ultimately protects jobs and the economy, which it would if their stated pledges (the Tories made them) were achieved. If they achieved it, Labour say they would support them.
The aim is to pressure the Government to do what they pledged to do. To hold them accountable for it.
If they don't achieve it, then the aim is to force a General Election and now possibly another vote. Either way, it is holding the government to account for the pledges it has made which we can agree will have a negative impact on the economy and jobs if the pledges were not achieved.
This puts huge pressure on the government to arrive at a deal as close as possible to the one if pledged to achieve. I agree that the whole package is unrealistic- but if the government came back with a soft Brexit deal that achieved a good amount of these pledges, especially one that prioritised the CU and single market (which is what I've mentioned that Labour are repeatedly prioritising), then I think that ultimately, Labour would vote for the deal, even if as is always going to happen, there will be compromises on some of the tests.
It is about pressuring the Government against a hard Brexit, ultimately protecting the economy.
We'll see what happens - I do not believe that the Labour government would force us into a No Deal situation if a form of CU was preserved. They may bring the government down with the vote, and force the general election - but does that = a no deal? Would the EU extend the deadlines for that, to allow an even more favourable softer Brexit than they have already got from the Tories? Probably.