Labour and the Conservatives were embroiled in a high-stakes row over whether to stage an immediate vote of no confidence in the government after the opposition chose not to table a binding vote on the issue on Monday night.
The opposition accused Downing Street of “running scared” because it had refused to allow time to debate an alternative, non-binding no-confidence vote in Theresa May as prime minister.
The Tories hit back, saying that Labour had “bottled it” by failing to exercise their right to force a no-confidence vote in the government when it looked like they might not win it.
Jeremy Corbyn had demanded a “vote of no confidence in the prime minister” at about 6pm after May told MPs she would delay holding the Brexit vote – which was pulled last week – to the week of 14 January.
The Labour leader said: “It’s bad – unacceptable – that we should be waiting almost a month before we have a meaningful vote on the crucial issue facing the future of this country.”
But Labour deliberately chose a form of words that was different from that formally required to begin the process of trying to force a general election under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, arguing that if May were to be defeated, it would have “political force”.
The 2011 act says that a no-confidence motion must use the following text to be binding: “This house has no confidence in Her Majesty’s government.”
If submitted by the leader of the opposition, such a motion has to be debated the next day and, if the government were defeated, May would almost certainly have to resign. A new government would have to be formed in 14 days or else an election would take place.
Labour had the option of tabling a revised, binding confidence motion after Corbyn’s intervention until the Commons rose at 9pm but chose not do so. A spokesman said the party would judge “day by day” when it was best to act.
The SNP and Liberal Democrats had indicated they would support Corbyn’s motion, but in the run-up to the close of business, it became clear that the DUP and Tory rebels were very unlikely to support any version of Labour’s motion, meaning it faced defeat.
Nigel Dodds, the leader of the DUP at Westminster, said its party would back May’s government for now while it tried to secure changes to her Brexit deal. Dodds said his MPs would not support “the antics of the Labour party”.
The hard-Brexit European Research Group, which is opposed to May’s proposed deal with Brussels, said its members would back May, even though they…
