Labour: We’ll vote down ANY Brexit deal

LABOUR was accused of putting ‘power before principle’ after one of its frontbenchers suggested the party will vote down any Brexit deal presented by Theresa May.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry predicted that the lack of an agreement would force the Prime Minister from office before Christmas.

She argued that a workable deal is ‘just not going to happen’ under Mrs May and claimed there will need to be a general election within months. Her comments prompted criticism that Labour is abusing its power by threatening to vote down the Brexit deal because it won’t deliver the same benefits the UK has in the EU.

Joshua Hardie, of the CBI business group, said: ‘The risk is that Labour will vote against any May deal using [the] “exact benefits” test as an excuse.

‘Dangerously close to putting power above principle. Wouldn’t automatically lead to GE [general election] but could lead to no deal.’ Tory MP Andrew Percy added: ‘We know that Labour will not vote in the national interest and instead will vote for what is in their political interests on the deal the PM brings back.

‘So- called hard Brexiteers are playing right into Labour’s hands which is why to get Brexit at all, Tory MPs need to rally around the deal the PM negotiates.’

Although it is has been suspected that Labour will vote against the deal, this is the first time a senior MP has said it openly.

Labour has ‘six tests’ for a Brexit deal and its opposition to the deal would mean that it could require only ten Tory MPs, from the party’s hardline Eurosceptic or pro-EU wings, to defeat the Government.

Miss Thornberry, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, said: ‘I can’t see them coming back with a deal that is going to meet our six tests and I can’t see them coming back with a deal that will unite the Tory party, for heaven’s sake...

‘They are not capable of governing... We’re either going to have a general election in the autumn or we’re going to have it in the spring.’