Threat to Labour MPs whose votes helped save Theresa
LABOUR MPs who helped Theresa May see off a challenge to her Brexit plans last night were threatened with deselection by party supporters.
The Prime Minister was saved from a humiliating defeat on the customs union with the votes of four Labour Brexiteers.
Frank Field, Kate Hoey, John Mann and Graham Stringer – along with independent Kelvin Hopkins – voted with the Government. Mr Hopkins is currently suspended from the party over harassment claims.
The five faced an immediate backlash from Labour supporters amid claims the Government could have been forced to call a general election if it had been defeated.
Pro-EU Labour MP Chuka Umunna said: ‘It’s very disappointing and our communities will question why Labour MPs are jeopardising jobs.’ All of the Labour rebels had previously backed an amendment on medicine regulation on which the Government had been defeated, except for Miss Hoey who did not vote.
Labour supporters on Twitter called for the group to face deselection. One wrote: ‘Labour MPs keeping a Tory government in power should be automatically deselected.’
Another added: ‘Those people are finished.’ Ahead of last year’s general election, Miss Hoey accused the Liberal Democrats of attempting to ‘demonise’ her after they plastered her constituency with 20,000 posters showing her face merged with Nigel Farage and the slogan ‘Hoey Out!’.
The Brexit supporter, who has been the Labour MP in Vauxhall since 1989, faced a fierce campaign to oust her because of her
vocal role in the EU referendum. She also faced a backlash from some Labour members who refused to canvass for her in the constituency where it is estimated 78 per cent of people voted Remain.
A no deal Brexit would seriously damage the UK banking industry, Mark Carney said yesterday.
The Bank of England governor said that while our financial institutions would survive a disorderly exit, deals could dry up and households would be worse off.
His comments came as parliamentary turmoil made the no-deal scenario look ever more likely.
The 53-year- old Canadian had warned a vote to leave the EU could push the economy into a recession and later admitted growth had been stronger than expected.
Speaking to a committee of MPs meeting at the Farnborough Air Show, he said it was too early to judge the impact of the Prime Ministers Chequers plan.
And he warned that if Britain fell back on World Trade Organisation rules alone it would harm the financial sector. ‘It would be a material event,’ he added.
‘Speaking very narrowly about the financial services side, in the event of a no-deal scenario there would be big economic consequences.
‘We might have a lot of idle bankers as there is not a lot of demand for their services.’
Mr Carney has frequently warned that as much as £27trillion of derivatives contracts would be unenforceable in the event of a hard Brexit. This would mean consumers would be potentially unable to make insurance claims and companies left without cover for big moves in currencies or borrowing costs.