Starmer: MPs’ votes must be a ‘serious exercise’
A SERIES of indicative Parliamentary votes on alternatives to Theresa May’s Brexit deal must be a “serious exercise”, the Shadow Brexit Secretary has said.
Sir Keir Starmer said the Labour Party would go into the process “in good faith”, but he warned that there needed to be “assurance that the Prime Minister isn’t going to use it just to frustrate the process”.
He added: “My biggest fear about this is if the Prime Minister is going to let a process begin but she won’t own the outcome, she will collapse it if we find a majority and I think she may want then to try her vote on her meaningful vote again and that would make a bad situation even worse.
“So the critical question is, is this a serious exercise? We want it to be.”
Asked if he could guarantee there would be another referendum under Labour, Sir Keir said: “I would expect our manifesto to build on those commitments both in relation to the type of deal and a public vote.
“What the party has said is there must be a public vote and we said we’d either put down an amendment ourselves or support an amendment, and that needs to be between a credible leave option and remain.”
Asked about Mrs May’s future, Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn, the Labour chairman of the Brexit committee, said: “I think we’re probably seeing the final stages of the current Prime Minister’s leadership, but frankly what matters more is the crisis that is still facing the country.”
Meanwhile, Tony Blair said he was confident Britain would be a “serious country again” after Brexit. The former Labour Prime Minister said he was determined to be part of the debate and he passionately believed Brexit was a mistake.
Speaking at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, Mr Blair stressed that now was not the time for him to comment on whether Mrs May should resign.