"Even if this [withdrawal] deal passes it's not over. The deal is really just the transition agreement; we're going to have years having all these internal debates and negotiations about what the future relationship [with the EU] is going to look like. Workers in this country can't wait that long to get things done," Jason Moyer-Lee said.

According to the IWGB leader, a no-deal Brexit would be a "disaster for everyone," especially for EU migrant workers who depend on freedom of movement.
"A soft Brexit would obviously be a lot better. But the main concerns we have as a union are freedom of movement, which we think is a good concept and institution, something we want to protect. A lot of our members have EU passports and that's how they're here working. [So, they] are extremely anxious about what's going to happen to them. Unless we remain in the single market there will be a big change for them," he argued.

Another concern, Moyer-Lee believed, was the EU employment law "that we use and rely on every day to defend our member's rights [and] that's entirely at risk if we leave the European Union."

Finally, he expressed concern over the "hit to the economy that any form of Brexit would take," with precarious workers similarly expected to bear the major brunt of these woes.

Commenting on the split that the trade union movement was going through amid the looming Brexit, being divided into opponents of hard Brexit and those seeking to free the country from EU regulations, Moyer-Lee expressed the belief that "it's nuts to think that Brexit is going to be an opportunity for trade unions or working people."

"The customs union, I mean that seems to be one that gets more support from trade unionists as they don't want a disruption in the flow of goods for people who work in manufacturing and that kind of thing," he maintained.

When asked about his assessment of the stance taken by the Labour Party amid the government’s failure to push its Brexit deal through parliament, the IWGB general secretary said that the union members would prefer a "People's Vote" on the final withdrawal agreement, which has not yet been "explicitly backed" by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

With regard to the recent series of defections by some Conservative and Labour members of parliament, including over their disagreement with the parties’ stances on Brexit, Moyer-Lee suggested that, in case of the Tories, it might deprive UK Prime Minister Theresa May of a parliamentary majority and lead to a defeat in another potential no-confidence vote.

"The interesting thing to watch from my perspective is if there are more defections and that deprives Theresa May of her majority, then what happens? And how would these guys vote in a No Confidence vote? Because if that happens she loses her majority and we end up in General Election territory I think there could be a shift in approaches to Brexit," he opined.

The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union on March 29. While London managed to negotiate a withdrawal deal with Brussels after months of intense talks, the parliament has been refusing to endorse the deal due to the controversial provision on the Irish border backstop, contributing to fears of a no-deal Brexit.