Starmer sets out Labour’s plans

Labour will seek to call a motion of no confidence in the government if Theresa May loses a House of Commons vote on her Brexit deal, Shadow Brexit Secretary Kier Starmer has warned.

He confirmed that if the government is defeated as expected, Labour would seek to force a general election by moving a vote of no confidence.

“If the Prime Minister has lost a vote of that sort of significance then there has to be a question of confidence in the government,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

“I think it’s inevitable that we will seek to move that – obviously it will depend on what actually happens in nine days - but if she’s lost a vote of this significance after two years of negotiation, then it is right that there should be a general election.

“Before the 2011 Fixedterm Parliaments Act, the convention was always that if a government loses what’s called a confidence vote – something of such significance – then that government has to go.”

Labour’s policy has long been to push for a general election if no Brexit deal can be reached, but Starmer’s comments firm up the likely timetable. If the government were not deposed, he said, Labour would start seeking a second referendum.

“Obviously, if that doesn’t happen, we need to press on to other options such as a public vote,” Starmer said.

With a two-thirds majority required for an election under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis made clear ministers would resist any attempt to make them go to the country early.

“I don’t think anybody watching this programme, having had two general elections and a referendum in the last three years, is looking for a general election or will thank the government for that,” he told the programme.