Labour will delay Brexit if talks hit deadlock
n Thornberry says Labour would respect referendum but needs more time to protect jobs
LABOUR HAS called for a delay to Brexit if the Prime Minister is unable to break the deadlock over a withdrawal deal with the European Union or clear any vote through the House of Commons.
As Theresa May prepares to face her Cabinet today for the first time since last week’s disastrous Salzburg summit, for talks on what immigration system the UK should pursue after Brexit, Labour is bracing itself for a potential row over whether to back a so-called People’s Vote, or referendum, on the final deal.
Jeremy Corbyn has said he will be “bound” by any vote at the party’s conference in Liverpool to support a second referendum.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told The Yorkshire Post yesterday that the party’s preference is for a General Election if Mrs May cannot break the deadlock in negotiations with EU or does not get her preferred deal through the Commons.
She told regional reporters Labour would then go into any election promising to extend the Article 50 withdrawal process, which is due to finish on March 29, and reopen negotiations with the EU.
She said: “We would have a good reason for doing that because there would be a new Government with a new approach who would be able to reset our relationship with the European Union.”
But she said it was too much of a “way down the track” to say how long the delay might last.
Ms Thornberry also told Leave voters that Labour would respect the referendum result but would need more time to get a Brexit deal to protect jobs.
She said: “What we say to people is we are respecting the result of the referendum but nobody voted to lose their job and nobody voted to be poorer. You have had a Tory Government that has been spending the last two years faffing around, fighting among themselves, never raising their eyes above themselves to look at the good of the country and they have failed.”
She added: “We will go into this in good faith and we will negotiate properly and pragmatically. We will try and protect the economy and people’s jobs and get a good a deal as we can whilst paying due deference to the result of the referendum.”
Asked if she expects an election, Ms Thornberry said: “Yes. I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”
Her comments came as a poll found 86 per cent of Labour members think voters should have the final say on the outcome of Brexit negotiations, and 90 per
cent would now vote to remain in the EU.
Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab yesterday dismissed claims Mrs May could call a snap election in an attempt to save her premiership following the Salzburg debacle.
“It’s for the birds. It’s not going to happen,” he told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
And he said the Government would keep negotiating on the basis of Mrs May’s Chequers blueprint for Brexit, despite the rebuff for the plan by EU leaders at last week’s Salzburg summit.
He said: “We will hold our nerve, we will keep our cool and we will keep negotiating in good faith.
“What we are not going to do is be dictated to.
“We have come up with a serious set of proposals. We are not just going to flit from plan to plan like some sort of diplomatic butterfly.
“We are going to be resolute about this and really press the EU to treat us with some respect.”
He said that Britain had shown flexibility in its negotiating position and called on the EU to do the same.
“If we just get this sort of ‘computer says no’ response from the EU we are not going to make progress,” the Brexit Secretary said. “We need some flex, some give and take,” he added.
We would have a good reason for extending Article 50 Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry on plans if there is a general election
HOW TIMES change. Ten years ago, it was the Conservative Party’s annual conference that was cut short by the then Labour government’s response to the global banking meltdown. Now it is this week’s Labour conference which is playing second fiddle to today’s Cabinet meeting on the current state of the Brexit negotiations.
The importance of this crisis meeting cannot be overstated. For, unless the Cabinet presents an united front after Theresa May was rebuffed by EU leaders in Salzburg, the Prime Minister’s position – already perilous – will be weakened further. And, while Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab did, in fairness, try to diffuse some of the tension by appealing to colleagues to “hold our nerve, keep our cool and continue to negotiate (with the EU) in good faith”, many in the Tory party’s upper echelons are still intent on doing the precise opposite.
They appear, judging by various well-sourced reports, to be obsessing over the Tory leadership, a second Brexit referendum or a snap election when the country at large wants the warring factions to pull together and ensure Britain gets the best possible deal with the EU.
However, while Mr Raab is one of the Government’s more polished performers, the Minister – as a Brexiteer – couldn’t resist a swipe at the Remain-supporting Philip Hammond over the Chancellor’s foreboding about a no-deal Brexit. And then there’s Mr Raab’s predecessor, David Davis, who was reunited at the weekend with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage as their ‘Leave means Leave’ campaign intensifies. They still make Brexit sound so straightforward when it clearly is not.
Yet, while Mrs May will try to stick to her guns, voters do now have the right to know the constitutional position if MPs vote down any agreement negotiated by the PM – or the ‘no deal’ proposition. After all, it is this country’s future which is on the line.