Labour won’t back May’s standalone withdrawal agreement, confirms Sir Keir Starmer
Labour will not vote for Theresa May’s EU withdrawal plan even if it is separated from the future relationship declaration, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed.
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Speaking at the British Chambers of Commerce conference this afternoon, Starmer shot down a plan being floated by the government to break up the two parts of the Brexit plan in a bid to get it through the Commons.
Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom announced on Thursday morning MPs would be voting on Brexit on Friday, but it is unclear whether this will be a full meaningful vote – taking in both the withdrawal agreement and the future relationship plan – or just the former.
Starmer said: “The Prime Minister and the EU know these documents cannot be separated. Yet now she may ask the Commons to pretend they can.
“But I want to clear – Labour will not support this latest desperate attempt by the PM.
“To now to split the withdrawal agreement and political declaration would leave us with the blindest of blindfold Brexits.
“Labour will not countenance that.”
With the DUP and hardcore Tory Brexiters still unwilling to back May’s Brexit plan, the government will need to attract the support of Labour MPs if it is to get the deal through the Commons.
May’s decision to announce she will resign should the deal pass may have won over some Conservatives, but Sir Keir said it made Labour less likely to back her plan.
He said: “Following the Prime Minister’s commitment yesterday to resign before the next phase of negotiations begin, it’s even more of a blindfold Brexit – because we now know that the outcome of our future relationship with the EU is not going to be determined by her.
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“My biggest fear is that unless Parliament takes a stand now, the outcome of the negotiations is going to be determined by the outcome of next Tory leadership contest.
“It could be a Boris Johnson Brexit.
“A Jacob Rees-Mogg Brexit.
“Or a Michael Gove Brexit.
“That should give anyone considering supporting May’s deal on Friday serious concern.”