Ministers woo opposition MPs in a bid to get plan through the Commons
TORY ministers have been wooing Labour MPs in the hope of winning support for Boris Johnson’s new Brexit proposals.
Cabinet minister Stephen Barclay yesterday revealed that talks were being held with members of Jeremy Corbyn’s party and other smaller groups about backing the plan.
The Brexit Secretary also revealed the Government was “considering” allowing a vote on the new blueprint before Mr Johnson attends a crucial summit with EU leaders next week.
“There are two tests usually put to me by the EU. The first is whether we can agree a deal, the second is whether that deal is deliverable in the House of Commons,” he told BBC One’s Andrew Marr.
Mr Barclay said the plan would not go before Parliament until detailed discussions had been held with Brussels.
But he said the Government was holding talks across the Commons because “many Members of Parliament want to avoid no-deal... particularly those Members of Parliament in Leave constituencies who have voted against no-deal and voted against a deal three times.
“Then they will need to be able to address this issue when they return to their electorate. So we are talking to Members of Parliament.”
Mr Barclay said the talks did not include Jeremy Corbyn because it was clear that “many on the Labour front bench actually don’t want to leave at all”.
He added: “They want a
second referendum. But what I can say in terms of the Labour proposals is, when I discussed those with capitals in Europe, it’s met with absolute bafflement as to why Labour wants to negotiate a deal and then vote against their own deal.”
Mr Johnson will need to win over some opposition MPs if the blueprint has a chance of being passed by Parliament.
But the move received a lukewarm response from key opposition MPs regarded as most likely to back a new deal.
Labour’s Lisa Nandy, who represents Leave-backing Wigan, said that while she could support a deal, the “problem is at the moment, we don’t have a deal”.
Ms Nandy said the proposals stand “virtually no chance of being accepted by the EU” because they effectively create new borders on the island of Ireland.
“I would vote for a deal, but this is not a deal,” she told Sky.
“This is a pre-election party-political broadcast from the Prime Minister, and the truth is that for all of the talk about getting Brexit done, we are further away from achieving a deal than we were two months ago when he became Prime Minister.”