MAY FACING THE EXIT BY WEDNESDAY
No-confidence bid ‘soon’ Corbyn plans for election
We will table a noconfidence motion... It is going to be soon JEREMY CORBYN TELLS THE ANDREW MARR SHOW
THERESA May could be gone within days as Labour prepares a no-confidence vote as soon as Wednesday if her Brexit deal is rejected by MPs tomorrow.
The desperate Prime Minister will today make a last-ditch plea to Tory rebels, claiming voting down her deal would be “more likely” to result in no Brexit at all than in a no-deal scenario.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay admitted Mrs May’s deal is unlikely to be passed but he insisted the key vote would not be pulled a second time.
But MPs will end up supporting “something along the lines” of her deal, he said. Downing Street has already indicated multiple votes could be held to get it over the line.
The Mirror understands Labour is preparing to force a no-confidence vote against the Government as soon as Wednesday. If successful, it would trigger a general election by early March. But with the DUP set to back the PM in that event, it is unlikely enough Tories could be persuaded to vote against their own Government.
Jeremy Corbyn told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show yesterday: “We will table a motion of no confidence in the Government at a time of our choosing, but it’s going to be soon.”
Mr Corbyn hinted a Labour win could push Brexit back from March 29. He said he is against a second referendum and would rather renegotiate with the EU, putting him at odds with over 70% of Labour members.
He would call for a permanent customs union, access to the single market and protection of rights and privileges. He told Mr Marr: “An election would be February, March, there’s only a few weeks between that and the leave date, there would have to be time for those negotiations.”
Labour Chief Whip Nick Brown told BBC Sunday Politics North East and Cumbria: “We have made contingency plans for a confidence vote.”
Labour Leaver John Mann, who has tabled an amendment to Mrs May’s deal to protect workers’ rights, has said he will back the deal.
Sir Edward Leigh became the fourth Brexiteer backbench Tory to vow to back the deal. He said: “The only way to deliver Brexit is to vote for the deal.” But days before the vote on the UK’s break with the EU, Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg was snapped on a break in
Czech capital Prague.
Military planners have been sent to the Foreign Office, Home Office and Department for Transport in a bid to avoid border chaos in the event of a no-deal.
The Welsh and Scottish governments said no-deal could decimate their farming and fishing industries. And pro-EU Tories say a third of the cabinet would quit if Mrs May pursues a no-deal Brexit. The PM today will tell a factory in leave-backing Stoke, Staffs: “What if Parliament tried to take the UK out of the EU in opposition to a Remain vote? Faith in the democratic process would suffer. We have a duty to implement the referendum result.”
Downing Street was “extremely concerned” about a backbench plot to change Commons rules to enable backbench motions to take precedence over Government business if the deal falls.
The Government would lose control of parliamentary business, which would threaten Brexit legislation and their ability to govern.
A No10 source said: “This would give MPs powers to control not only what happens to Brexit legislation but all legislation. It represents a real threat to all Government business.”