Vote of confidence in May is inevitable if she loses Commons vote, says Starmer
Shadow Brexit secretary says Labour will trigger a no-confidence motion, and backs a second referendum
LABOUR will call for a vote of confidence in Theresa May if she loses the crunch Commons vote over her Brexit deal, in a bid to trigger a general election.
Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said his party would “inevitably” table a no-confidence motion if Mrs May’s Brexit deal did not pass through Parliament. He criticised the Prime Minister for “running down the clock” and coming up with a “bad deal”.
“People praise her resilience – at the moment I don’t think this is resilience, it’s just ploughing on regardless,” he said.
If Mrs May’s deal fails to get through Parliament on Dec 11, she will have 21 days to consult her Cabinet and make a statement to Parliament setting out what she plans to do next.
Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Sir Keir said: “We need to see what that is, but it seems to me that if the Prime Minister has lost a vote of that sort of significance then there has to be a question of confidence in her Government. I think it’s inevitable that we will seek to move that.”
Under the Fixed Term Parliament Act, if the Government loses a confidence vote it has 14 days to pass a second confidence motion, or Parliament is dissolved and a general election is called.
If Labour fails to force a general election, Sir Keir said the party would seek support in Parliament for a second referendum instead, which would be “far better” than Mrs May’s deal.
While the party has appeared split on what form this could take, Sir Keir said the country should be given the option of staying in the EU.
“I’ve always been very clear that the option of Remain ought to be on that ballot paper,” he said.
However, he said he would be “worried” about a no-deal Brexit being an option in a second vote, as it would be “catastrophic” for the country.
“I don’t think people have necessarily thought through all the implications of no deal,” he said. “If you’ve got no deal you’ve got no trading relationship with your most important set of trading partners but you’ve also got no security arrangements, no arrangements for dealing with counter-terrorism.”
Sir Keir added that the Prime Minister had “failed to have got the option of a deal that Parliament can support” and was therefore “pushing” the other options of a second vote or a no deal.
Asked if he would back a Norwaystyle Plan B, Sir Keir said: “I went to Norway to study the Norway model, as it’s called, for four days, and I didn’t think it would really work very well for the United Kingdom.”
Last night, the DUP threatened to abandon the Prime Minister in a confidence vote if she failed to get her Brexit deal through Parliament. Sources at the party said they were considering the move, which would leave Mrs May without a Commons majority.
A DUP source told The Times that it was not correct that the party would back Mrs May because of its confidence-and-supply agreement with the Tories. He claimed that the Conservatives were not living up to their end of the deal between the two parties, citing fears about a sea border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.