MP hopefuls’ letter war over Brexit stance
THE hot topic of Brexit is the subject of a heated letter exchange between West Lancashire’s Labour and Conservative candidates.
Conservative candidate
Jack Gilmore addressed a letter to Labour’s Rosie Cooper asking her to clarify her position on the matter as he said that it appeared “unclear” and that without a plan to get Brexit done it was impossible to have credibility on anything else.
The letter, dated
November 26, pressed the Labour candidate on whether she agreed with leader Jeremy Corbyn’s neutral position and outlined three direct questions.
Mr Gilmore wrote : “1. What is your plan to get Brexit done? 2. Will you remain neutral in a second referendum, and if not, how will you campaign? 3. Will you refuse to support any government which is reliant on the votes of the SNP and a second independence referendum?”
Ms Cooper was quick to respond with a letter dated the same day and also produced a letter from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
She wrote: “Let me state as I have unequivocally, I will respect the result of the referendum.
“I was one of five Labour MPs who voted for Theresa May’s deal. I was one of 19 Labour MPs who voted for the second reading of Boris Johnson’s deal.
“In fact, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote to me and those MPs, saying ‘I wanted to write to thank you for voting in favour of the EU withdrawal agreement bill at second reading. I appreciate this was not an easy decision for you, but I believe your constituents will see that you took the right decision in the national interest’.”
A copy of the letter was then attached and Ms Cooper ended by urging Mr Gilmore to contact the leader of his party before embarrassing himself again.