New threat for May’s Brexit

OPPOSITION PUSHING FOR CONTEMPT

Britain’s main opposition Labour Party said it would press for contempt proceedings against the government if Prime Minister Theresa May fails to produce the full legal advice she has received on her Brexit deal.

The threat is yet another hurdle for May to clear before parliament votes on December 11 on her deal for Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU), its biggest shift in foreign and trade policy for more than 40 years.

With the odds looking stacked against her, May is touring the country and media studios to try to win over critics including both eurosceptics and europhiles who say the deal will leave Britain a diminished state, still linked economically to the EU but no longer having any say over the rules.

May often says her deal will protect jobs and end free movement. She hopes her argument that it is the only feasible deal with the EU and that voting it down will raise the risks of a “no-deal” Brexit will concentrate minds.

Labour has said it will vote against the deal. On Sunday, its Brexit spokesperson, Keir Starmer, increased the pressure on May by saying Labour would start contempt proceedings if government did not publish its legal advice.

He also said Labour would seek a vote of no confidence in the government if she lost the vote, a widely forecast outcome.

“In nine days’ time, parliament has got to take probably the most important decision it has taken for a generation and it’s obviously important that we know the full legal implications of what the prime minister wants us to sign up to,” Starmer said.

“I don’t want to go down this path ... (but) if they don’t produce it tomorrow we will start contempt proceedings. This would be a collision course,” he told Sky News.

British media said the contempt move was also supported by the small Northern Irish party which props up May’s minority government, underlining her precarious position in parliament.

May’s former foreign minister, Boris Johnson, in his column in the Telegraph, said he backed the calls for the government to publish the advice. –