Tough talk but Corbyn ducks bid to topple PM
JEREMY Corbyn ducked calls to trigger a bid to topple Theresa May yesterday despite launching a vitriolic attack.
The Labour leader talked tough as the Prime Minister toured Europe trying to win support for concessions on her exit deal and claimed she no longer had authority.
But he dodged calls to table a motion of no confidence.
Mr Corbyn was challenged by Scottish Nationalists to “do the right thing now and table a motion of no confidence”.
Welsh nationalists accused him of “playing brinkmanship”.
Tory MP Simon Hoare questioned why the Labour leader was “faffing around” if “things really are so bad and as rotten as they believe to be”.
Mocked
In the Commons, Mr Corbyn insisted Mrs May “no longer has the authority to negotiate for this country when she doesn’t even have the authority of her own party”.
He mocked Mrs May after she had struggled to get out of her car before meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Mr Corbyn said he had tabled an emergency debate on the Brexit vote process because: “We have no confidence in this Government.
“Our Prime Minister is traipsing round the Continent in pursuit and search of warm words when she can get out of the car to hear them.
“If the Prime Minister comes back with nothing more than warm words then she must immediately put her deal to the House. No more delays, no more tricks, let Parliament take control.”
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, who is Mrs May’s deputy, was heckled by his own side as tensions mounted.
In farcical scenes, Labour’s Dennis Skinner accused SNP MP Stewart McDonald of being a “piece of **** ” in the chamber.
Opposition MPs defeated their own motion in an attempt to display their frustration at the Government’s decision to delay the vote on the Brexit deal.