Major calls for cross-party government
THE establishment of a cross-party government would be in the “national interest” and help resolve the Brexit crisis, Sir John Major has claimed.
Warning that a snap election would “solve nothing”, the former prime minister said that a “time-limited unity government” with a “clear working majority” could instead offer a way out of the current parliamentary deadlock.
While there has not been a comparable cross-party administration since the Churchill ministry of 1940-45, Sir John said one was justified by the threat currently posed to Britain’s reputation, living standards, and the future of the union. “In 1940 our very existence was at stake. That was a unique set of circumstances,” he told the BBC’S Andrew Marr Show. “But if you consider what is at stake at the moment, the living standards of the British nation, the worldwide reputation of Britain … the unity of the UK and whether we lose Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the very structure of our politics which is now threatened. Now if that doesn’t constitute a constitutional and political crisis then I cannot imagine what does.”
Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary, has suggested a unity government may be required to implement an alternative Brexit plan to the one negotiated by Theresa May.
Amid suggestions that the Prime Minister could refuse to implement a softer form of Brexit such as a customs union, Ms Morgan said that MPS would have to think “very hard” about whether a “cross-party coalition” was required to ensure the UK left the EU in an “orderly fashion”.
Asked about the proposal yesterday, Sir John said: “If we have a general election in the autumn … and we don’t get a government with a clear majority, I think it would be in the national interest to have a cross-party government.
“Whomsoever is prime minister would have to invite people in from the other parties, so you could be guaranteed of having a majority in parliament. Now I don’t like this idea. I don’t think it’s ideal. But I do think in the interests of the nation … in the interests of ending the chaos we have now and that could continue, we must have a government that has a working majority.”
With dozens of ministers and backbench MPS now jostling to replace Theresa May, Sir John also appeared to take a swipe at Boris Johnson and other Brexiteer candidates, claiming that the next occupant of No 10 would need to be a “national leader not a factional leader”.