MPs accuse Corbyn of Brexit betrayal
JEREMY CORBYN faces accusations of turning his back on Brexit-backing Labour voters ahead of a crunch Commons vote over formally quitting the EU.
Labour frontbencher John Healey told Mr Corbyn he was ‘sending the wrong message’ to voters in the party’s northern heartlands by forcing MPs to vote against the EU (Withdrawal) Bill tomorrow.
The row will embolden rebels planning to defy a three-line whip and side with the Tories. The draft legislation, which will formally end the supremacy of EU law in the UK, is expected to pass its first Commons hurdle, with Tory Remainers likely to keep their powder dry until detailed discussion of the proposals.
But Mr Corbyn’s team insist that the Bill amounts to a ‘huge power grab’ by Ministers. In stormy exchanges at last week’s Shadow Cabinet meeting, sources say Mr Healey, Labour’s housing spokesman, said: ‘We are sending the wrong signal to the country with this. We have to vote for the Bill.’
Another source said: ‘Jeremy can’t just turn his back on Brexiteers in northern constituencies who flocked to vote for him.’
Mr Corbyn did not respond directly to the attack. And last night, MP Graham Stringer condemned his party leadership for ‘flipflopping’ over its Brexit approach. He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘People hate political parties that promise one thing and do another.’
But at an anti-Brexit march in London yesterday, Lib Dem MP Sir Ed Davey condemned the Brexit negotiations as an ‘embarrassment for Great Britain’.