Tag: Labour Leader

Theresa May and her cabinet are looking for ways to bring her EU withdrawal agreement back to the Commons for a fourth attempt at winning MPs' backing. EU leaders plan for no deal as other options dissolve Friday's defeat was the third time MPs have rejected her withdrawal agreement - the first vote was lost by 230 votes, the second by 149. Government position 'clear' MPs will hold another set of non-binding votes on various Brexit options in the Commons on Monday. None of MPs' eight proposed Brexit options secured a majority in the last round of "indicative votes" on 27 March, but the options which received the most votes were a customs union with the EU or a referendum on any deal. He said staying in a customs union with the EU would go against the result of the referendum and the Conservatives' election manifesto. The aspiration, strange as it sounds, for some time now has been to prove to MPs that the deal is the least worst of all the options... Read Laura's thoughts in full Earlier this month, EU leaders gave the PM until 12 April to come up with a Brexit solution; if her deal had made it through Parliament on Friday that date would have been pushed back to 22 May to allow time to pass the necessary legislation. Since the deal was rejected, Mrs May now has until 12 April to seek a longer extension to avoid the UK leaving without a deal. Mrs May said it was "almost certain" there would have to be an extended delay to Brexit to allow the UK to take part in the European elections at the end of May if her deal does not go through. Monday, 1 April: MPs hold another set of votes on various Brexit options to see if they can agree on a way forward Wednesday, 3 April: Potentially another round of so-called "indicative votes" Wednesday, 10 April: Emergency summit of EU leaders to consider any UK request for further extension Friday, 12 April: Brexit day, if UK does not seek/EU does not grant further delay 23-26 May: European Parliamentary elections Meanwhile, Leave voters registered their anger at the latest vote rejection with a protest at Westminster. Will European leaders accept a longer delay to Brexit?

Jeremy Corbyn has urged Theresa May to “either listen and change course, or go” in a Brexit-dominated prime minister’s questions which appeared to lay down the most likely battle lines for a series of indicative Commons votes on seeking a consensus departure plan. Corbyn, in return, repeatedly urged May to embrace Labour’s idea of a customs union-based exit plan, and accused the prime minister of using intransigence as a means to force MPs into backing her deal in a likely third meaningful vote. “Why is she prepared to carry on risking jobs and industry in another attempt to, yet again, run down the clock and try to blackmail the MPs behind her in supporting a deal that’s already been twice rejected?” he asked. When May declined to say directly if she would back any plan that emerged from the series of indicative votes scheduled for later on Wednesday, Corbyn said: “I think the house, and perhaps more importantly the whole country, deserves to know the answer to that question.” He continued: “This country is on hold while the government is in complete paralysis. to knife crime, have been neglected. Instead she’s stoking further division, she’s unable to resolve the central issues facing Britain today, and she is frankly unable to govern. Corbyn set to whip MPs to back public vote as frontbench threatens revolt Read more “The prime minister faces a very clear choice, the one endorsed by the country and many of her party: either listen and change course, or go. Her Brexit plan, she also argued, would deliver “the benefits of the customs union while enabling us to have an independent free trade policy”. He said: “It’s a bit strange when a Conservative prime minister says she doesn’t want what the business community want. In the first PMQs question, Conservative Brexiter Andrew Bridgen said his constituents would “never trust the prime minister again”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has today announced he will join the seven other splitters in leaving the party and joining the Independent Group. Corbyn cited Labour’s position on Brexit as well as Labour MPs disinterest in his stories about his allotment as the main reasons. ‘And don’t even get me started with the eye-rolling when I start talking about my jam making exploits,’ Corbyn told the press. Jeremy Corbyn’s move to the Independent Group has seen a swell of support online as thousands have already joined and donated to the cause. It’s believed that Corbyn is now the red-hot favourite to become the group’s leader, which could be problematic for other MPs in the group. ‘If he becomes the leader then the rest of us will have to splinter off again. Frankly, we spunked most of our creativity on creating the Independent Group name. I have no idea what we’d call a new group,’ said Chukka Umunna.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has demanded that the prime minister give MPs the opportunity to vote on whether or not they have confidence in her after she delayed the showdown on her Brexit deal to January. Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in Theresa May on Monday evening. While the government is not obliged to schedule a confidence vote before Christmas, the Labour leader said a refusal to do so would demonstrate that she was unable to command the confidence of the House of Commons. Announcing his intention, Corbyn told the Commons it was “very clear that it’s bad, unacceptable, that we should be waiting almost a month before we have a meaningful vote” on May’s Brexit deal. Instead, May has said the Brexit vote will be held in the week commencing 14 January. He added that the motion he intended to table, aimed specifically at the prime minister and not at the government as a whole, was “the only way I can think of of ensuring a vote takes place this week”. As Corbyn went to sit down after finishing his remarks, May stood up and walked out of the chamber, nodding to the chair as she left. We will vote against Labour in any confidence motion.” The Democratic Unionist Party also said it would back the prime minister, with its Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, saying his MPs would not support “the antics of the Labour party”. Haddon said a motion of no confidence in the government under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act would force May’s hand. But Corbyn announced his intention to table the motion as the debate closed.