Tag: John Healey (politician)

The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, has said the prime minister is highly unlikely to secure the meaningful changes to her Brexit deal that will be necessary for it to pass the House of Commons in January. Starmer accused the prime minister of pulling the vote in order to “run the clock down” and playing up the risks of no deal in the hope of convincing MPs to back her. “I really think it is the duty of the government and the PM to stand at the dispatch box and rule out no deal,” he said. Tory MPs could resign whip if no-deal Brexit becomes primary focus Read more Demanding a three-hour debate is one of the tools at MPs’ disposal to challenge the government, if they feel measures are being railroaded through without scrutiny. Downing Street announced on Tuesday, after a three-hour cabinet meeting, that the government would “ramp up” no-deal preparations dramatically – with 3,500 troops on standby, and an extra £2bn set aside across 25 Whitehall departments. Instead, he chose a motion of censure criticising May – for which the government did not set aside time for parliament to debate. No-deal Brexit is a national disaster. It is every politician’s job to avert it | Jonathan Freedland Read more The shadow housing secretary, John Healey, suggested on Tuesday that Labour would wait until after May’s deal has been rejected by MPs, before tabling a motion of no confidence. Campaigners for a second Brexit referendum, including Streatham MP Chuka Umunna, have been urging Labour to get on with trying to engineer a general election in the hope that it would then allow the party to move on to advocating a “people’s vote”. The SNP’s Commons leader, Ian Blackford, won the right for an SO24 debate on May’s Brexit deal on Tuesday, after the prime minister confirmed that MPs would not be given a vote on it until mid-January.