Labour: take no deal off table before poll
Labour leader’s focus on blocking Johnson’s Brexit while chief whip Brown wants to hold off on going to the polls and force the PM to ‘stew in his own juices’
Jeremy Corbyn has suggested he will not back a general election until a law preventing a no-deal Brexit has been passed. Speaking in the aftermath of the Government’s failure to stop MPS seizing control of Parliament today, the Labour leader held back from saying he would vote to trigger a snap poll. Responding to Boris Johnson’s call to set the wheels in motion for an election on Oct 15, Mr Corbyn said: “Fine. Get the Bill through first in order to take no-deal off the table.”
JEREMY CORBYN has suggested he will not back Boris Johnson’s general election call until a law preventing a no-deal Brexit has been passed.
Speaking in the aftermath of the Government’s failure to stop MPS seizing control of Parliament today to introduce the controversial Bill, the Labour leader held back from saying he would vote today to trigger a snap poll.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s call to set the wheels in motion for an election on Oct 15, Mr Corbyn said: “Fine. Get the Bill through first in order to take no deal off the table.”
His refusal to back the election was echoed by Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leader, who said: “It is vital that this House acts with responsibility and does not tip our country into an election at a point where there is any risk that we will crash out of the European Union during that election campaign or immediately after.”
Ahead of the vote, it was unclear whether Labour would back the call for a general election – which requires the support of two-thirds of MPS under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. Mr Corbyn told his MPS: “We are ready for a general election, we are ready to take on this Government and win.”
That appeared at odds with Nick Brown, his chief whip, who told a meeting of Labour MPS moments before that the party would block Mr Johnson’s attempt to call an election.
According to insiders at the meeting, Mr Brown said that Labour wanted to let Mr Johnson “stew in his own juices” and take responsibility for a dilemma of his own making. However, The Daily Telegraph understands that while Mr Brown was addressing MPS, Mr Corbyn and Sir Keir Starmer, his shadow Brexit secretary, were exploring options to enable Labour to back a poll and prevent no deal.
They are understood to have met Commons officials to discuss mechanisms that would allow an election to take place but prevent Mr Johnson changing the date later by using the Royal Prerogative.
This would allay the fears of Remainer MPS, who believe that if they approve a mid-october election, Mr Johnson will just change the date until after Hallowe’en, thereby forcing through a no-deal Brexit. Party insiders told The Telegraph last night that they were confident they had found a solution.
According to Whitehall sources, one plan being considered would be to deny Mr Johnson support for an election under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, forcing him to resort to “Plan B”, which would see the Government try to override the Act with new legislation requiring a simple majority for an election to be approved.
Opposition MPS would then be able to amend this to specify that the election date of Oct 15 could not be changed, giving Labour the guarantees necessary to vote for it.
A well-placed source said: “We could oppose a motion that would allow the
‘We don’t believe it’s a general election or blocking no deal, we can achieve both. We’re working on mechanisms to ensure that happens’
Government to dictate the terms of when an election would be. There are discussions about how we could amend to stop that.”
Another option would be for MPS to amend the legislation extending Article 50 to specify that a poll could be held on a certain date next month.
Asked about the plans yesterday, a Labour source said: “We support an election and are continuing to work to make sure we can block no-deal during an election campaign or outside of one. We don’t believe it’s a general election or blocking no deal, we can achieve both. We’re working on various mechanisms to ensure that happens.”
But if Mr Corbyn agrees to an election, he is likely to trigger an internal rift, with up to half of his MPS said to be determined to block an election unless a no-deal Brexit on Oct 31 has been ruled out by law. Their concerns are believed to be shared by Labour frontbenchers including John Mcdonnell, shadow chancellor, and Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary.
Ian Blackford, the Westminster leader of the SNP, signalled he would also back a poll if Mr Johnson sought approval for one today. In the Commons yesterday, he told the Prime Minister: “He says he doesn’t want an election, but I’ll let him into a secret – we do.” Earlier, he told the BBC: “If there is a general election, there is a fantastic opportunity for the people of Scotland to send a very clear message to Westminster that we should be able to determine our own future.” Meanwhile, Nigel Farage yesterday vowed to put “country before party” and help Boris Johnson in an election – as long as the Conservatives push for a no-deal Brexit.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We would, the Brexit Party, put country before party and we’d say to Mr Johnson, ‘Right, we want to help you in any way we can’.”