Gunner be ‘hell’ for May as all opposition parties unite to battle Brexit bill

THERESA May faces Brexit “hell” this autumn after opposition parties refused to back her Great Repeal Bill.

Brexit Secretary David Davis had begged Labour, Lib Dem and SNP MPs to “work together” with the minority Tory government.

But speaking in Brussels after talks with EU Brexit chief Michel Barnier, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded big changes to the Bill.

Mr Corbyn, who presented Mr Barnier with a replica shirt from his beloved Arsenal, said: “We will make sure there is full Parliamentary scrutiny.

“We have a Parliament where the government doesn’t have a majority.

“The majority voted to leave, and we respect that, but they didn’t vote to lose jobs and they didn’t vote to have Parliament ridden roughshod over.”

The Great Repeal Bill – now officially renamed the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill – cancels the Act which took us into Europe in 1973, reasserts the supremacy of British courts and brings 12,000 important EU laws on to the British statue book.

While it is not designed to deliver big policy changes on key issues such as immigration and customs – which will happen via separate Bills over the next two years – it remains highly controversial.

Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer set out “red lines” where he said the Government must change tack.

They include ensuring workers’ rights in Britain do not fall behind those in the EU in future years, and a limit on special powers so ministers cannot quietly scrap key EU protections they do not like.

Sir Keir said: “We won’t give the Government a blank cheque to force through a Bill that has serious flaws.” The Lib Dems are ready to join forces with other opposition parties and fight “guerrilla warfare” to stop the Bill passing unamended.

Leader Tim Farron vowed to make Mrs May’s life “hell” .

He said. “This debate is not just a quagmire for the government, it is also a political nightmare that could end Theresa May’s premiership.”

Labour hope to win the support of Scottish nationalists and the 13 Scots Tory MPs with their proposal to switch EU powers straight back to devolved powers. A source said: “Any Scottish MP would find it very, very difficult to vote against that.”

Mrs May’s spokeswoman said she was ready to work with opposition parties to push Brexit through. “We want to work with all parties, MPs, devolved administrations, talk to them,” she said. “This Bill is simply about making sure that we have a functioning statute book when we leave.

“What I would say is we would talk to anyone, I think David Davis has said that, we will work with anyone that we need to work with to make sure that we can do that in a positive, consensual way.”

This is also a political nightmare that could end Theresa May’s premiership

TIM FARRON LIB DEM LEADER ON OPPOSING THE BREXIT BILL TACTIC Corbyn gives Barnier Arsenal shirt