‘Reckless stance on talks is not working’, says Cooper

A SENIOR Yorkshire backbencher has called on Theresa May to ditch her “reckless and irresponsible” approach to Brexit and show leadership by “resetting the debate” on the way forward.

Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP Yvette Cooper yesterday accused the PM of retreating into her bunker instead of seeking consensus, and of allowing Brexit hardliners in the Tory European Research Group to “hijack the Government and hijack the country”.

She said the Government must use any extension of negotiations beyond March 29 to build a national consensus on what kind of relationship the country wants with Europe after Brexit. And she warned that if Mrs May refuses to do so, then Parliament will be ready to take control of events and force a change of approach.

In a speech in London, Labour MP Ms Cooper said that following the 230-vote defeat of Mrs May’s plan in January, the Prime Minister had delivered “the worst kind of chaos and brinkmanship”, failing to offer a Plan B or reach out to other parties.

“Theresa May needs to accept that her approach isn’t working, whether her deal gets through or not this week,” said Ms Cooper.

“As Prime Minister, she needs to show some leadership and reset the debate. This is the point to pivot, not to dig in.”

Ms Cooper said she and others were working on cross-party amendments to give Parliament powers to take over control of the Brexit process if Mrs May tried to kick the can further down the road.

Any extension to Article 50 should be used to draw up a proper plan for the UK’s long-term relationship with the EU, she said, adding that the PM should offer a series of indicative votes, allowing MPs to express their preference between different options.