Labour admits: SNP could prop us up

LABOUR last night admitted it would have to rely on the SNP to keep Jeremy Corbyn in power if next week’s election ends with a hung parliament.

The Labour leader has been stung by Tory claims that he would be forced to lead a ‘coalition of chaos’ if he manages to inflict a shock defeat on Theresa May on June 8.

Last night Labour tried to kill off the charge by insisting Mr Corbyn would try to lead an unstable minority government. But shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry admitted Mr Corbyn would have to rely on the support of the SNP, Greens and Liberal Democrats to get his programme through. And, incredibly, both she and Mr Corbyn refused to rule out asking Sinn Fein MPs to take their seats in the Commons for the first time to lend their support to Labour.

Conservative chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin last night said that Miss Thornberry had revealed Labour’s true intentions. He said: ‘The truth is out: Jeremy Corbyn will invite the other parties to prop him up as prime minister if there is a hung parliament on June 9.

‘Brexit negotiations start 11 days after you vote, but instead of focusing on those nego- tiations, Corbyn would be busy haggling with Nicola Sturgeon and the Lib Dems. That will cause chaos.’

A new poll by YouGov for The Times suggested that Labour has cut the Conservatives’ lead to just three points, putting the result into possible hung parliament territory. But Labour’s collapse in Scotland means there is almost no chance of Mr Corbyn securing an overall majority. Miss Thornberry yesterday said that in these circumstances Labour would put forward a Queen’s Speech and a budget – and simply challenge other progressive parties to vote them down and risk a return to Conservative rule.

Answering questions following a speech by Mr Corbyn in Basildon, Essex, she said: ‘If we end up in a minority, we will put forward a Queen’s Speech and a Budget. If people want to vote for it, then good. If they don’t want to vote for it, they are going to have to speak to their constituents and explain why it is we have a Tory government instead.’

But she refused to rule out seeking to persuade Sinn Fein MPs to take their seats in the Commons to bolster Mr Corbyn in key votes. Sinn Fein had four MPs in the 2015 parliament but the Republican party does not sit in the House of Commons, whose sovereignty it does not recognise.

Mr Corbyn is known to have close links with Sinn Fein.