Labour eases off on Brexit threats

Labour won’t push for a vote this week on a second­ Brexit referendum, even if May’s deal is ­defeated by Tory MPs today.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Picture: Getty Images

The British Labour Party will not push for a vote this week on a second­ Brexit referendum, even if Theresa May’s deal is resoundingly ­defeated when Tory MPs vote on the issue today.

In a tactical move, Jeremy Corbyn’s party will not lay an amendment to the vote on the Prime Minister’s deal calling for it to be put to the public.

Instead, it will whip its MPs to oppose Mrs May’s deal and back a move to force her to request an extension to the Article 50 process, which slates March 29 as the day Britain is due to leave the EU.

But senior Conservative MPs have already told the Prime Minister that her position will be untenable­ if parliament forces her to extend the Article 50 process this week.

MPs are due to be given the second meaningful vote on the deal late tonight AEDT, but there is growing alarm in the parliamentary party that Downing Street has lost control of the process. One cabinet minister said that they were “as much in the dark” as anyone else, and a senior backbencher warned that the Prime Minister’s strategy of delay was tearing the party apart.

Last night, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier shut down hopes of a Brexit compromise with Brussels, saying it was up to Britain’s government and parliament to find a way forward with less than three weeks to go before the scheduled departure date.

Mr Barnier said Mrs May must negotiate with MPs rather than the EU.

“We held talks over the weekend and the negotiations now are between the government in London and the parliament in London,” Mr Barnier said in Brussels ahead of Brexit discussions with envoys from the other 27 member states.

Mrs May was to update MPs last night on what changes, if any, she had secured to her EU divorce deal which was agreed with the bloc last year but overwhelmingly rejected by MPs in January. Following that crushing defeat she agreed to renegotiate certain unpopular aspects of the agreement and hold another vote today.

But as parliament prepares to reassess the deal, the Prime Minister has little to show for her efforts, prompting warnings of another humiliating loss.

“Discussions are ongoing between ourselves and the EU,” Mrs May’s spokesman told reporters, insisting that today’s vote would take place as planned.

Labour’s decision is a victory for second-referendum supporters who fear that putting their policy to a vote too early could lead to a big defeat in the House of Commons.

Strategists behind the People’s Vote campaign have been urging Labour to hold off and go for a vote in parliament only if all other options, including a soft Brexit, have been defeated.

Once that stage is reached, they want to see an amendment from two Labour backbenchers giving conditional support to getting the deal through the Commons as long as it is put to a public vote. That can only happen when the deal has a realistic chance of being passed.

In a series of meetings with government whips, Brexiteer Tories have warned Downing Street that Mrs May will face ­renewed pressure to quit if she is made to ask for extra time from the EU.

Others suggested at the weekend that they would be prepared to compromise and back her deal if she wins limited concessions but only if she states her intention to go as soon as the deal is signed. A former cabinet minister said that Mrs May would find it “very difficult” to stay in office if parliament forced an extension on her.

Another cabinet minister predicted that the hardline stand by the EU had increased the prospect of no deal. “The EU could easily get this deal through. They are being ridiculous,” they said.

The Times, AFP